Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is a method of long-term lung and/or heart support in infants, children and adults with severe pulmonary and/or cardiac failure.

The ECMO program at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt has been in existence for 20 years. Since its inception, our ECMO program has been used to treat over 650 patients.  ECMO has been used to treat infants, children and adults in respiratory failure from severe pneumonia, status asthmaticus to neonates with congenital diaphragmatic hernia or meconium aspiration. It has also been used to treat infants and children in cardiac failure, as well as being used as a conduit for hemodialysis for infants with inborn errors of metabolism. Currently, the ECMO program at Children's Hospital has the capacity to run five ECMO patients at one time.

Our program is a member of ELSO (Extracorporeal Life Support Organization), data registry for national and international ECMO Centers, which monitors quality standards for 151 member ECMO services around the world. Recently our team was honored with a Center of Excellence award from ELSO. 

To read about how ECMO saved 18-month-old Rezan Omer, click the following link: ECMO gives the sickest patients a fighting chance.

For more information on ECMO resources at Children’s Hospital, contact the ECMO Manager at 615.322.0519 or you may email Daphne Hardison, R.N., B.S.N.