Jayalalithaa on ECMO: What is it?

The nation remains under huge tension as the health condition of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa remains critical.

The Tamil Nadu chief minister was shifted back to the Intensive Care Unit of Chennai's Apollo Hospital last evening and underwent an angioplasty operation early this morning. According to doctors at the hospital, she has been put on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), a heart assist device.

What is ECMO?

• ECMO stands for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation.

• It is also known as extracorporeal life support (ECLS).

• In 1975, Bartlett et al were the first to successfully use ECMO in neonates with severe respiratory distress.

• It provides both cardiac and respiratory support to people whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequate amount of gas exchange to sustain life.

• Mostly used on children, ECMO is now seeing more use in adults with cardiac and respiratory failure.

• Patients on ECMO have a survival rate from 50 to 70 percent.