Design and Implementation of a Targeted Cardiocerebral Extracorporeal Oxygenation Membrane System

Outcomes for cardiac arrest (CA) are currently poor, even when CA is experienced in hospital. While the gold standard for treatment is extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is most often used to treat cardiac arrest. We propose a fundamental change in ECMO technology to increase access by reducing the amount of highly trained personnel required to perform this treatment. Additionally, we propose a design in which ECMO functionality is combined with functionality of an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) in order to further reduce cardiac workload in cases of cardiac arrest and cardiogenic shock.