Establishing a New ECMO Referral Center Using an ICU-Based Approach: A Feasibility and Safety Study

Background: A high-volume center with a multidisciplinary team is regarded as the optimal place for providing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). We hypothesize that an ECMO center can also be successfully created and subsequently developed entirely by intensivists in a mid-size mixed intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: A model was created for setting up a new ECMO referral center within the structure of an existing mixed ICU in a tertiary hospital. A retrospective analysis was carried out of the first 33 patients treated in the initial period of the center’s activity, from mid 2018 to the end of 2020. Results: An ECMO center was established and developed entirely based on the resou…