Application of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in severe ARDS secondary to pneumonia: A case report

Abstract

This report describes a 24-year-old patient with marked and continuous hypoxemia resulting from severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) secondary to pneumonia, which in turn was refractory to mechanical ventilation and other conventional adjunctive therapies. Veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was applied for 14 days and resulted in significant improvement in the hypoxemia. We conclude that ECMO presents a therapeutic option for ARDS patients who fail to respond to conventional mechanical ventilation. © 2013 Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.