Clinical Services
Center for Acute Respiratory Failure
ECMO Program
About Our Program
Our adult ECMO program is one of the largest in the world for both respiratory and cardiac failure.
Our Patient-Centered Model
Our ECMO program uses a patient-centered, disease-specific model for the delivery of this potentially life-saving therapy. ECMO for acute or acute-on-chronic respiratory failure is performed in our Medical ICU ("Medical ECMO"). Post-operative ECMO is performed in our Cardiothoracic ICU ("Surgical ECMO"). This ensures the immediate availability of relevant medical expertise based on the patient's underlying condition.
Innovation
Our program is at the cutting edge of research and new techniques in the field. One example involves the use of a miniature ECMO set-up to get selected patients out of bed and walking while on ECMO, sometimes without the use of the ventilator at all. This is typically used to bridge patients to lung transplantation.
Multidisciplinary Care
The Medical ICU at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center provides state-of-the-art treatment for patients with all forms of acute respiratory failure. We feature expert clinicians from every relevant medical and surgical subspecialty. This includes expertise in all areas of Pulmonary Medicine and Thoracic Surgery.
In addition, our multidisciplinary team includes critical care nurses, respiratory therapists, critical care-trained pharmacists (PharmD), critical care physical and occupational therapists, nutritionists, speech therapists, social workers, and staff from pastoral care.
