Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Peripheral Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Without Left Ventricular Venting
03:40

Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Peripheral Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Without Left Ventricular Venting

Published on: January 17, 2025

Successful treatment of peripartum cardiomyopathy with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

D A Palanzo1, L D Baer, A El-Banayosy

  • 1Heart and Vascular Institute, Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033, USA. dpalanzo@hmc.psu.edu

Perfusion
|August 6, 2009
PubMed

A 24-year-old female developed heart failure within four months of delivering her first child. Echocardiogram revealed a moderately dilated left ventricle with severely reduced systolic function. She continued to decompensate, requiring intubation and inotropic support. When the use of an intra-aortic balloon pump failed to stabilize the patient, the decision was made to place her on ECMO. The circuit consisted of a Quadrox D membrane oxygenator and a CentriMag centrifugal pump. After 11 days of support, the patient met the weaning criteria and was successfully removed from ECMO. She was discharged one month after her admission. The new technology available allows for ECMO to be considered as an earlier option for the treatment and management of these patients as a bridge to recovery.

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