Saint Francis ECMO program gives hope to the ‘sickest of the sick’

Saint Francis Hospital is using sophisticated medical technology, ECMO, to offer precious time to patients in severe cardiac or respiratory distress.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) acts as an artificial heart and lungs. It pumps blood outside the body, adds oxygen, removes carbon dioxide, warms the blood and pumps it back into the patient. 

Now in its third year, the Saint Francis ECMO program can support up to 10 highly critical patients for whom all other options have failed, said Dr. Aly El Banayosy, who leads the program at Saint Francis Heart and Vascular Institute.

Cardiac patients become candidates for ECMO when their hearts are no longer capable of supporting life and are not responding to medical treatment, often due to heart attacks, congestive heart failure or heart muscle infections. Patients with the most severe lung disease also are ECMO candidates, often after pneumonia, other viral infection or trauma.

“ECMO improves our ability to treat the sickest of the sick,” said El Banayosy. “Saint Francis had the vision and the resources to invest in this program, which is serving patients throughout the region. Before this, physicians treating these patients had limited local options. Now we can treat them here in Tulsa.”

Currently, El Banayosy’s team has more than 70 specially trained experts that include critical care nurses, respiratory therapists, physicians and pharmacists offering round-the-clock care for patients. By supporting the lungs and heart, the ECMO machine stabilizes patients so that there is more time to fight their underlying conditions.

Providing the treatment locally on a regional basis is a blessing to the patients and their families.

“We are proud of the success we have had with the ECMO program,” said El Banayosy. “Patients come here desperately ill, and we give them another chance ... hope.”