Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: This study aims to discuss the risks and benefits of ECMO in the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19. Method: This is a narrative review study of the literature with a qualitative approach, carried out in the PubMed, MEDLINE, LILACS, SciELO and Google Scholar databases in April 2021. Results: The analysis of the literature shows the importance of applying conventional treatment before opting for ECMO, and should be considered when other measures that have been proven to be effective and relatively inexpensive have been performed, but without success, such as pronation, neuromuscular blockade and lung protection ventilation. Conclusion: It is concluded that further studies are needed with a larger sample and a comprehensive analysis of the evaluation of the use of ECMO in patients with COVID-19.