Across the COVID-Ravaged South, High-Level Life Support Is Difficult to Find

September 9, 2021

(NPR) – ECMO is the highest level of life support — beyond a ventilator, which pumps oxygen via a tube through the windpipe, down into the lungs. The ECMO process, in contrast, basically functions as a heart and lungs outside the body. The process, more often used before the pandemic for organ transplant candidates, is not a treatment. But it buys time for the lungs of patients who have COVID-19 to heal. Often they’ve been on a ventilator for a while. Even when it’s working well, a ventilator can have its own side-effects after prolonged use — including nerve damage or damage to the lung itself through the excessive air pressure. (Read Full Article)