What is the extracorporeal heart assist device that Jayalalithaa"s doctors have put her on?

என்ன ஆச்சு ஜெ. விற்கு தெளிவான அறிக்கை வெளியிடுமா அரசு | Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalitha Health Conditions
NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa suffered a cardiac arrest+ late on Sunday. She was put on a heart assist device.

Apollo Hospital, where she"s being treated, said on Twitter:

What is an extracorporeal membrane heart assist device?

An extracorporeal medical procedure is one which is performed outside the body.

An extracorporeal membrane heart assist device then assists a person whose heart and lungs are unable to produce enough oxygen to stay alive. That process is called Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

Criteria for the initiation of ECMO include acute severe cardiac or pulmonary failure that is potentially reversible and unresponsive to conventional management, according to the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization.

CMO has the word "oxygenation" in it because the heart assist device removes blood from a person"s body, diminishes carbon dioxide in the blood and pumps oxygen into the red blood cells to infuse life giving blood that helps a person stay alive.

The blood is pumped directly into the body to energise it as the heart and lungs are unable to perform that pumping, life-giving function.

While reports vary about survival rates, with acute respiratory failure, the use of ECMO has been shown to improve survival rates, say some scientific papers. "Survival rates from 50 to 70 percent have been reported in observational and uncontrolled clinical trials," according to a 2009 scientific paper by Thomas V. Brogan, Ravi R. Thiagarajan, Peter T. Rycus, Robert H. Bartlett and Susan L. Bratton.

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Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/What-is-the-extracorporeal-heart-assist-device-that-Jayalalithaas-doctors-have-put-her-on/articleshow/55804397.cms