Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation

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In 1988, the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Miami Children's Hospital broke new medical ground, opening Florida's first Extra Corporeal Life Support (ECLS) program to provide life-saving intervention for the region's most critically ill infants and children. Since those pioneering beginnings, the ECLS program at Miami Children's Hospital is proud to have given new life to hundreds of youngsters, while maintaining one of the best outcome records in the field.

The ECLS program includes Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Therapy and is one of only three in the nation to perform emergency pediatric therapeutic apheresis, a safe and effective way of treating serious blood infections and diseases. ECMO Therapy is the use of a machine that acts like an artificial heart and lungs for a child delivering the oxygen to the blood they require to stay alive.  Although a child’s heart continues to beat while undergoing this treatment, this machine makes it easier as it does much of the pumping for them. ECMO is used for infants and children who suffer from respiratory and/or heart failure due to birth defects, trauma or serious infection.

ECLS services are provided through the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Miami Children's Hospital, the leading pediatric care facility in the state of Florida.