Cardiac assist by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation with in-line left ventricular venting

We have used a canine heart failure model and extracorporeal circulation to study the limitations of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for the treatment of cardiac failure. ECMO does not routinely achieve total biventricular bypass and does not effectively decompress the failing left ventricle. The addition of an in-line left ventricular vent (ECMO-lv) provided total biventricular bypass and complete left ventricular decompression in every experiment. ECMO-lv merits consideration as a biventricular bypass system for total mechanical support of the failing heart.