extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

noun

: treatment providing respiratory and circulatory support for a patient that involves pumping blood from the body and through a membrane oxygenator to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen and a heat exchanger to cool or warm the blood before returning it to the body

One approach to preventing ventilator-induced lung injury is to avoid mechanical ventilation and instead use extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

—Arthur S. Slutsky et al., The New England Journal of Medicine

… doctors quickly equipped her with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, an artificial-lung system known as ECMO, that draws blood from veins near the heart, filters out the carbon dioxide and replenishes the blood with oxygen, before returning it at body temperature back to the heart.

—David Templeton, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

called also ECMO