Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
What is ECMO?
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a technique that gives lifesaving support to patients whose heart and lungs can't work on their own. An ECMO machine can act as a child's heart and lungs, allowing the organs to rest and recover.
A doctor connects one or more tubes to a large blood vessel to reroute blood flow to the ECMO device. The machine then acts as lungs, removing carbon dioxide from and adding oxygen to blood before returning it back into the body. ECMO can also pump blood through the body to support the heart.
What conditions can ECMO treat?
We can provide ECMO treatment for newborns, children and adolescents. It can help give them the time that they need to fully heal from a range of different conditions, including:
- Congenital heart defects: These are problems with a child's heart that make it harder to pump blood.
- Congenital diaphragmatic hernia: This rare condition is when the muscles that help you breathe don't develop. This results in other organs crowding a baby's lungs, making it hard for the infant to breathe.
- Meconium aspiration syndrome: This happens when a newborn inhales waste products before or during birth, resulting in difficulty breathing.
- Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN): When a baby is born, blood vessels going to the baby's lungs are supposed to open. PPHN occurs when these vessels either remain closed or become blocked or constricted during birth. This makes it difficult for a baby's heart and lungs to support normal breathing.
- Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS): At about 26 weeks of pregnancy, a baby's lungs begin making a liquid required to help the baby breathe after birth. When a baby is born premature, the lungs may not have had time to create enough of this liquid. In these cases, RDS can occur when the amount of available liquid is unable to support normal breathing.
- Pneumonia: This results from bacterial, viral or fungal infections that allow the lungs to fill with fluid.
- Asthma: In severe cases, this condition can cause the airways in a child's lungs to become so tight and swollen that normal breathing becomes difficult or impossible.
- Sepsis: This happens when a child's immune system fights an infection too hard and begins to hurt the rest of the body.
Cook Children's ECMO team
When your child undergoes ECMO at Cook Children's, they receive care from a team of experts from many specialties. We have over 30 team members with extensive training and experience providing this treatment to pediatric patients of all ages. Our team includes registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physicians and other professionals from different areas, including:
- Competent: ECMO specialists need at least two years of experience working across the neonatal, pediatric and cardiac intensive care units (ICU). They also complete a five-day in-house training curriculum that includes ECMO simulations and extensive mentoring during formal training and beyond. This ensures that all team members are proficient at every level of ECMO care.
- Compassionate: We understand how overwhelming a hospital stay can be for you and your child. Our extensive experience with ECMO treatment allows us to provide the support and guidance necessary for every phase of this experience.
- Committed: Our ECMO specialists bring between two and 30-plus years of pediatric critical care experience to your child's bedside. This provides a solid foundation of knowledge on how to care for the most vulnerable patients.
Why choose Cook Children's
- Cook Children's is designated a Gold Level Center of Excellence by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO). That designation recognizes our excellence in the performance, innovation, satisfaction and quality of ECMO care.
- We participate in multicenter research studies and clinical trials, and patients who qualify may have access to advanced treatments not available elsewhere. This is part of our commitment to providing the best evidence-based treatment strategies available.
- Our pediatric ICU received the Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. It recognizes our high-quality care, positive outcomes and exceptional patient experience.
- We hold national rankings among the top 50 best hospitals in the U.S. for seven pediatric specialties from U.S. News & World Report.
Access to care when and where you need it
Cook Children's is the only hospital in Tarrant County that provides ECMO for pediatric patients. If you need help getting your child to the medical center, Cook Children's Teddy Bear Transport is available upon request. It's among the few neonatal and pediatric transport teams in the world certified by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems to quickly and safely convey medically fragile children and neonates to and from medical centers. Cook Children's is also the only hospital in the Dallas-Fort Worth area capable of transporting pediatric ECMO patients.
What you can expect
We created “A Day in the Life” to give a look into what a patient might expect from ECMO treatment. This written account describes in general terms what your child may experience daily while having ECMO treatment.
There will always be at least one and often two ECMO specialists at your child's bedside to monitor and manage the machine. However, your role is critical to our success as caregivers. As a parent, you're part of the team.
We rely on you to help us make sure that your child's treatment meets their needs. Your guidance is important to any decisions regarding your child's care. Our team is dedicated to working with you to achieve the best possible outcomes.
You will be involved in daily meetings about your child's progress, as well as weekly conferences with the entire team. This will provide you with the most current information on all treatment options. Our goal is to help you make the best decisions for your child's health and well-being.
Meeting your family's needs
Cook Children's has an extensive network of resources ready to support your family before, during and after a stay at the medical center. These include support groups for specific conditions.
The experience of providing and receiving ECMO treatment creates a bond between caregivers, patients and their families that lasts a lifetime. Each year, our team holds an ECMO reunion for former patients and their families.
There is also a support network designed for current patients and their families. This network was created by the mother of a former patient and includes an online forum.
Meet our team
Our leadership is the driving force behind our exceptional outcomes. Our leaders' vision helps ensure that the care delivered to your child is among the best in the nation.
[IMAGE – pull bio tile]
Melodie Davis, DNP, RN, CENP
PICU Director
Brittany McLaughlin, RN
NICU Director
Danielle Ransonette, RN
ECMO Co-Coordinator
Tammy Elizondo, RN
ECMO Co-Coordinator
Contacts and locations
Cook Children's Pediatric and Neonatal ICUs
801 7th Ave.
Fort Worth, TX 76104
682-885-4268 phone
Map and directions
Cook Children's Heart Center (Cardiac ICU)
1500 Cooper St.
Fort Worth, TX 76104
682-885-2140 phone
Map and directions