UT Health Tyler is proud to have been the first hospital in East Texas to offer cardiovascular critical care. Our dedicated team of fellowship-trained intensivists and advanced practice providers offer 24/7 coverage ensuring patient care continually progresses throughout the day. The intensive care unit (ICU) coordinates care and works alongside cardiologists, surgeons and other specialists so patients can receive the consistent, unified care they need to get through the most complicated illnesses and surgeries. The ICU team cares for a broad range of patients including those with heart attacks, heart failure, cardiothoracic and vascular surgeries, structural heart procedures and patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for the most severe forms of heart and lung failure.
UT Health East Tyler is the first hospital in East Texas to offer extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to adult patients who are extremely sick due to heart and/or lung failure. "Extracorporeal" means outside of one’s body, “membrane” is a type of artificial lung and “oxygenation” is the process of getting oxygen into the blood. The ECMO machine helps to alleviate the stress on these vital organs in order for them to have a chance to rest and recover until they are able to properly function again.
Placing a patient on ECMO can be done in the operating room, catheterization lab, at the patient’s bedside or via a mobile unit wherever the patient is located. When connected to an ECMO machine, the blood flows through a tube into an artificial lung for the purpose of removing carbon dioxide and adding oxygen. Then, the blood is warmed to body temperature and pumped back into the body. Depending on the condition of the patient, they may stay on ECMO anywhere from just days to several weeks. During this time, the medical team is able to treat them with a variety of procedures, medicines or give them adequate time to recover.
Contact Us
For ECMO referrals, please call 903-535-6266.
Referral Information
ECMO Patient Referral Guidelines
Adult ECMO has the most benefit for ages 18-65 years of age.
ECMO will be used as a possible treatment for the following conditions:
- Acute or acute on chronic heart failure
- Pulmonary embolism
- Pulmonary contusion
- Inhalation injury
- Chest trauma
- Covid-19
- Drug intoxication
- High-risk cardiac catheterization lab procedures
- Influenza
- Low body temperature
- Post-cardiotomy shock
- Pneumonia/ARDS
- Ventricular assist device (VAD) procedure or similar