ecmo Archives

Cannula shortage led to more invasive lung support for infants

Mar. 2, 2023—A Vanderbilt study found that a three-year shortage of a common cannula used in young infants needing lung support forced hospitals across the United States to switch to a more invasive form of lung support,

LifeFlight personnel train on advanced cardiac devices

Jan. 19, 2023—Vanderbilt LifeFlight personnel recently received training on using advanced cardiac devices in transport settings, devices that were historically found only at hospitals like VUMC.

John Pietsch, MD, founder of the ECMO program at Children’s Hospital, is retiring after 50 years of caring for patients.

Pediatric ECMO program founder Pietsch retires

Jul. 14, 2022—John Pietsch, MD, the recently retired founder of the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) program at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, didn’t grow up wanting to be a doctor.

Current and former ECLS (ECMO) fellows include, from left, John Stokes, MD, Yuliya Tipograf, MD, Yatrik Patel, MD, and Sean Francois, MD.

ECMO fellowship program provides lifesaving training

Mar. 17, 2022—Vanderbilt's extracorporeal life support fellowship gives new doctors two years of hands-on experience with a lifesaving critical care tool, one that has only become more important during the COVID-19 pandemic.

VUMC’s ECMO program has expanded to areas outside of the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit.

Study shows young, healthy adults died from COVID-19 due to ECMO shortage

Feb. 25, 2022—Vanderbilt research found that nearly 90 percent of COVID-19 patients who qualified for, but did not receive, ECMO due to a shortage of resources during the height of the pandemic died in the hospital, despite being young with few other health issues

Study shows life-saving benefit of baricitinib for ventilated COVID patients

Feb. 7, 2022—Vanderbilt research shows that critically ill COVID-19 patients on a mechanical ventilator or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation lived more often when randomized to receive baricitinib.

VUMC’s Mike West, RN, works with Ballad Health’s Jessie Blevins, RN, during a recent ECMO training session.

Initiative shares ECMO expertise with Ballad Health

Jan. 27, 2022—Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently hosted representatives of Ballad Health, a regional health system serving East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, to train its team to provide a life-saving medical program called ECMO.

Alarming number of pregnant COVID-19 patients hospitalized in August

Sep. 1, 2021—Vanderbilt University Hospital treated 39 pregnant patients hospitalized with active COVID-19 infections in August, 10 of whom were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

VUMC sees increase of COVID-19 in pregnant patients

Aug. 2, 2021—Physicians at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) have recently noticed an increase in pregnant patients ill with COVID-19. These cases are especially concerning due an increased risk of hospitalization, ICU admission, need for mechanical ventilation and ventilatory support, and increased risk of death in pregnant patients with COVID-19 compared to non-pregnant patients.

Zach Lloyd spent 95 days on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, after contracting COVID-19.

COVID recovery included long stay on ECMO, double-lung transplant

Apr. 1, 2021—Zach Lloyd was only 37 years old with no pre-existing health conditions, but COVID-19 was bringing him within an inch of his life.

Children’s Hospital ECMO program lands excellence award

Aug. 13, 2020—For the fifth straight time, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt’s heart-lung support program has received the ELSO Award — Gold Level for Excellence in Life Support by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO).

Extracorporeal life support program honored by ELSO

Aug. 6, 2020—Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s extracorporeal life support (ECLS) program has received the gold level award for excellence in life support from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO).