Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) can provide continuous extracorporeal respiration and circulation for patients with severe cardiopulmonary failure, thus obtaining valuable time for the rescue. However, its core technology has been monopolized by foreign countries for a long time, and the equipment and its consumables are expensive.

Recently, the ECMO, which is developed by the National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials (Sichuan University), the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University and the School of Mechanical Engineering of Xi'an Jiaotong University, has started clinical trials in China.

Medical staff use domestic ECMO to treat patients.

In 2017, the research team started its design and research on the long-term anticoagulant coating on the whole-blood contacting surface of ECMO, magnetically levitated centrifugal pump, ultrasonic flow probe, program-controlled monitoring system and ECMO lungs.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the team had basically completed the production of ECMO centrifugal pump equipment and a full range of consumables, and carried out large animal experiments regarding the ECMO’s long acting anticoagulant coating on whole-blood contacting surfaces. During the research and development, the team designed a domestic ECMO for domestic clinics after fully analyzing and comparing the advantages and disadvantages of foreign products and the problems existing in clinical use.

The domestic ECMO is used to treat patients. (Picture provided by respondents)

The first domestic ECMO system has been successfully applied in clinics, which is likely to significantly reduce the price of ECMO products in China. The newly developed ECMO can promote the popularization of ECMO technology to grass-roots hospitals, and benefit more patients with acute and critical diseases.