In a fight to save more of Louisiana’s smallest patients, a Baton Rouge hospital invested in a device that replaces the function of the heart and lungs by pumping blood outside of the body.
Called ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine), the machine is an advanced life-support used for infants, children or adults with respiratory or cardiac failure. At Woman’s Hospital, the ECMO will be used for babies in the neonatal intensive care unit who are experiencing lung failure.
The machine’s tubes, pumps, filters and monitors take over a patient’s heart or lung function, allowing the body to rest…