What is extracorporeal membrane oxygenation?

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a form of advanced life support for patients with severe cardiac or respiratory failure. The treatment supplies oxygen to the patient’s blood and helps pump the blood back into the body. A pump circulates blood through a circuit of tubing to support heart function, as well as through an oxygenator that acts as an artificial lung. This unique and highly specialized ECMO program helps patients of all ages with life-threatening diseases that impair heart and lung function.

Program details

Methodist Heart and Lung Institute's distinctive ECMO program is the primary ECMO provider for one of the largest regions in Texas and fastest growing areas in the U.S. We operate the only ECMO program that reaches as far west as El Paso and as far south as McAllen.

We are honored that our commitment to build an exceptional program has been recognized with the ELSO Gold Level Center of Excellence Award—the most prestigious designation in critical care by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization. We take pride in the responsibility we have to save lives, striving to care for the sickest of patients that other facilities are not equipped to manage. Every ECMO procedure could provide a second chance for a patient to return home to their family, and we are dedicated to offering that chance for those who need it.

Justin's story

Who may qualify for ECMO?

ECMO treatment is a consideration for any patient with severe respiratory failure and a potentially reversible etiology (pneumonia, aspiration, volume overload).

ECMO treatment is also a consideration for any patient with severe cardiac failure.

Patients who require ECMO must be addressed in a very narrow window of time. Our highly trained ECMO care team is always available 24/7 to support these emergent cases. They also have a very unique combination of expertise, specializing in both ECMO procedures, as well as cardiac and critical care with complex, unstable patients.

If you think the Methodist Heart and Lung Institute ECMO Program might be right for your patient, please call to speak to an ECMO clinician at (210) 575-ECMO (3266).