eli5: Why do Heart-Lungs bypass machine can’t keep someone alive for more than days?
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Being on a heart-lung bypass machine is very invasive and stressful on the body. Lots of things can go wrong, and the longer on are on it the greater the risk of severe injury or death
The main risks associated with it are bleeding out in part due to being on blood thinners.
Blood clots which can lead to strokes and death
Air embolism meaning that air bubbles get into your bloodstream
Inflammation throughout your body
Brain injury, lung injury, Kidney injury or kidney failure, Multi-organ failure, and Pancreatitis due to lower heart and lung function, blood clots, and inflammation.
Ideally a person should only be on such a machine for a few hours during surgery, but sometimes longer is required due to waiting on organs for transplant etc. But the longer you are on the machine the lower your chances of survival.
While standard ECMO is 5 days, they have gone as long as 25-30 days.
The big issue is that the heparin they use to prevent clotting can also cause brain bleeds, etc.
Being on a heart-lung bypass machine is very invasive and stressful on the body. Lots of things can go wrong, and the longer on are on it the greater the risk of severe injury or death
The main risks associated with it are bleeding out in part due to being on blood thinners.
Blood clots which can lead to strokes and death
Air embolism meaning that air bubbles get into your bloodstream
Inflammation throughout your body
Brain injury, lung injury, Kidney injury or kidney failure, Multi-organ failure, and Pancreatitis due to lower heart and lung function, blood clots, and inflammation.
Ideally a person should only be on such a machine for a few hours during surgery, but sometimes longer is required due to waiting on organs for transplant etc. But the longer you are on the machine the lower your chances of survival.
While standard ECMO is 5 days, they have gone as long as 25-30 days.
The big issue is that the heparin they use to prevent clotting can also cause brain bleeds, etc.
While standard ECMO is 5 days, they have gone as long as 25-30 days.
The big issue is that the heparin they use to prevent clotting can also cause brain bleeds, etc.
Being on a heart-lung bypass machine is very invasive and stressful on the body. Lots of things can go wrong, and the longer on are on it the greater the risk of severe injury or death
The main risks associated with it are bleeding out in part due to being on blood thinners.
Blood clots which can lead to strokes and death
Air embolism meaning that air bubbles get into your bloodstream
Inflammation throughout your body
Brain injury, lung injury, Kidney injury or kidney failure, Multi-organ failure, and Pancreatitis due to lower heart and lung function, blood clots, and inflammation.
Ideally a person should only be on such a machine for a few hours during surgery, but sometimes longer is required due to waiting on organs for transplant etc. But the longer you are on the machine the lower your chances of survival.
Blood clots outside of the body, so we have to use very powerful anti-clotting meds (heparin). Besides the obvious bleeding issues, it causes side effects in long term use. But the main thing you worry about is a massive brain bleed or bleeding in another part of the body because of the heparin.
Blood clots outside of the body, so we have to use very powerful anti-clotting meds (heparin). Besides the obvious bleeding issues, it causes side effects in long term use. But the main thing you worry about is a massive brain bleed or bleeding in another part of the body because of the heparin.
Blood clots outside of the body, so we have to use very powerful anti-clotting meds (heparin). Besides the obvious bleeding issues, it causes side effects in long term use. But the main thing you worry about is a massive brain bleed or bleeding in another part of the body because of the heparin.
Exposure to all of the foreign surfaces from the heart lung machine also chews up the clotting factors the longer you are on bypass.
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