Newswise — BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Physicians at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are employing a technology known as ECMO as a last-resort therapy for extremely severe cases of influenza. ECMO, short for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, is a sort of portable heart/lung bypass machine.

The machine was first developed for use in heart bypass surgery, and has also found utilization as a bridge to heart or lung transplantation and the treatment of other severe lung diseases.

In extreme cases of flu, severe inflammation can cause the lungs to fail. ECMO essentially takes on the function of the lungs for a period of time by routing a patient’s blood into the machine where carbon dioxide is removed and oxygen is added. The blood is then pumped back into the body. Patients can remain on ECMO until the inflammation is reduced and the lungs are capable of functioning normally on their own.

UAB has used ECMO on more than a dozen adult patients with severe flu since the start of the flu season, and more than 50 adult patients with cardiopulmonary failure were treated with ECMO at UAB in 2013.

“These are very sick patients for whom traditional therapy such as a ventilator is simply not sufficient,” said Enrique Diaz, M.D., associate professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine and head of the UAB ECMO program. “By taking on the functions of the lungs and/or the heart, ECMO supports the body’s normal function and gives these patients time to recover.”

Use of ECMO is a complicated process. Patients can remain on ECMO in the intensive care unit for several weeks if necessary. Many require rehabilitation after coming off the machine.

ECMO requires a dedicated team of medical professionals, including intensive care specialists, surgeons, perfusionists, nurses trained in ECMO use, and respiratory and physical therapists.

“ECMO is a very specialized treatment, and typically only major academic medical centers will have the equipment, expertise and experience to employ ECMO for flu cases,” said Diaz.

UAB has seven ECMO machines which have stayed busy since the start of flu season. Patients from hard-hit areas, including the Florida and Alabama Gulf Coast region, have been referred to the UAB ECMO program, along with patients from across Alabama.

“ECMO is not a cure, but it is a way to support some of these very critically ill patients who are failing conventional medical therapy, failing mechanical ventilation,” said Diaz. “Many patients are being saved through the use of this technology.”

About UABKnown for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center and the state of Alabama’s largest employer, with some 23,000 employees and an economic impact exceeding $5 billion annually on the state. The five pillars of UAB’s mission deliver knowledge that will change your world: the education of students, who are exposed to multidisciplinary learning and a new world of diversity; research, the creation of new knowledge; patient care, the outcome of ‘bench-to-bedside’ translational knowledge; service to the community at home and around the globe, from free clinics in local neighborhoods to the transformational experience of the arts; and the economic development of Birmingham and Alabama. Learn more at www.uab.edu.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a separate, independent institution from the University of Alabama, which is located in Tuscaloosa. Please use University of Alabama at Birmingham on first reference and UAB on subsequent references.

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