Hamad Medical Corp (HMC), strategic partner of the South West Asian Chapter (SWAC) of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organisation (ELSO) hosted its fourth annual ELSO-SWAC Conference in Qatar that concluded yesterday.
ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) provides both cardiac and respiratory support to people whose heart and lungs are not able to provide an adequate amount of gas exchange to the body.
It works by removing blood from the body and artificially removing the carbon dioxide and oxygenating red blood cells.
The machine element of ECMO acts as the lungs or heart, ensuring the body gets enough oxygen by circulating the blood outside of the body while the patient is undergoing treatment or recovering from serious injuries.
ECMO is a rapidly evolving technique, supported by an ever-increasing body of knowledge and technology.
To some extent, and due to the extending range of its application, is still an art form that requires constant attention and exchanges between its practitioners. HMC is one of the few healthcare systems in the Middle East region to use ECMO.
The conference, chaired by Dr Ibrahim Fawzy, director, HMC Critical Care and ECMO programme director attracted around 600 delegates from all over the world along with a host of international speakers.
The conference covered a range of ECMO subjects such as ECMO Transport and Aeromedical Retrieval, Management on an ECLS Patient – ECMO Interaction and Live Simulation Scenarios, including ECMO Cannulation.
Prof Robert Bartlett, the ‘founder’ of ECMO, was recognised during the event for his significant contribution to developing the ECMO therapy to the next level.
The ECMO system is currently available only in a few centres around the world and requires a fully integrated and dedicated team of trained clinicians to carry out high-risk procedures with care delivered by clinicians 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
One of the sessions at the conference.
