MEMPHIS, Tenn. —
Baptist Memorial Hospital has begun making preparations for any severe cases of coronavirus in the Mid-South. The hospital is the only in our region to offer ECMO machines for adults. ECMO stands for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. It's typically used for heart surgery patients or serious severe flu patients, but Baptist physicians are getting ready to roll it out in case a COVID-19 patient needs it. It is the absolute last resort.
"When everything else has failed, that's the last thing we can offer," said Dr. John Craig, Surgical director of the Heart Transplant Program and ECMO Program Director at Baptist.
Dr. Craig said that is when doctors turn to the ECMO machine.
"During heart surgery, we stop the heart and we stop the lungs, yet the patients survive. That's because of this machine," said Dr. Craig.
Let's say if there is a severe case of COVID-19 and a ventilator is not doing the job to help pump oxygen.
"So, with an ECMO machine, it takes blood out of the body. It goes to an artificial machine where there is a pump, so it takes the place of the heart," said Dr. Craig.
Then there is an artificial lung component to help get oxygen to the blood and pump carbon dioxide out.
"There have been several that have survived ECMO. We do believe that it's very beneficial at this time for people when there's nothing else to offer," said Dr. Craig. "Fortunately, most cases of coronavirus are mild. Many patients can be managed at home. There's a small group of that population probably about 10% of these people will end up needing critical care support."
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That possible 10% may most likely be patients who are at a higher risk of the virus such as the elderly population and those with pre-existing conditions. The ECMO machine has been used for COVID-19 in other parts of the country and world.
"It's been used in China. It's been used in Japan. A number of countries have used this. We've used it in the United States of America," said Dr. Craig. "At this point, a lot of the patients that have been supported with ECMO are actually still on ECMO. We don't have really good information necessarily about how long patients are on ECMO, what the survival rate is."
Many patients have survived after having the ECMO machine treatment.
"It's a very, very limited resource. The mobilization of resources is enormous for one ECMO patient. This program for this region has been the only regional adult ECMO program," said Dr. Craig.
In the past, Baptist has used up to eight ECMOs at once. The maximum is between 12 and 14.
"If there is a widespread pandemic, then we have to coordinate with other hospitals in the area and kind of the region to support the most appropriate patients," said Dr. Craig.
That's why social distancing is so important.
"Going forward, it's more sort of a long spreading outbreak, which we hope we can spread this out instead of this whole thing happening at one time. A large influx of patients can easily overwhelm the system," said Dr. Craig.
As mentioned, these machines are the last resort for a patient with a severe case of COVID-19. Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital also has ECMO machines for children.