[Treatment of fulminating lesional edemas using extracorporeal circulation with a membrane oxygenator]

Recourse to extra-corporeal oxygenation is legitimate in certain cases of fulminating pulmonary edema, with refractory hypoxemia, particularly when the early onset of the hemodynamic condition and the severity of the hypoxemia do not permit the carrying out of dehydration. Veno-arterial diversion then permits: --the ensuring of half or two thirds of the oxygen consumption; --the restoration of systemic hemodynamics by arterial reinjection; --the very rapid reduction of pulmonary edema by "decompressing" the pulmonary artery.