*Fuck* ventilators. They damage the patient's lungs, and laying tubes into the trachea requires traumatic surgery and carries significant secondary infection risk.
ECMO – for patients with too destroyed lungs – is even worse, massive infection risk due to exposing vital arteries and veins, and it destroys your blood cells, requiring constant topping up with fresh blood transfusions.
This has the potential to be less invasive than either measure and could give the patients a chance to let their lungs actually heal from all the damage.
ECMO – for patients with too destroyed lungs – is even worse, massive infection risk due to exposing vital arteries and veins, and it destroys your blood cells, requiring constant topping up with fresh blood transfusions.
This has the potential to be less invasive than either measure and could give the patients a chance to let their lungs actually heal from all the damage.