CLINICAL STUDY Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in lung transplantation

Lung transplantation has become an accepted surgical modality. As the primary pulmonary graft failure accounts for almost one third of early deaths, new possibilities to positively influence this life-threatening complication had been searched for. extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) offers an unique advantage to overcome the demand-ing peri- and postoperative period. The authors present the advantage of ECMO use, introduce a review of experience with its application in lung transplantation. (Fig. 2, Ref. 36.) Key words: extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, lung transplantation, primary graft failure. 34 Definition of the ECMO technique, historical overview, tech-nical description Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a tech-nique, which allows oxygenation of the blood outside the body and which does away with the need for gas exchange inside th