Patients find hope in post-ECMO rehabilitation

This method shows the importance of starting rehab whilst patients were still critically ill.

The National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS) and the National University Hospital (NUH) have made significant achievements in their integration of rehabilitation into Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) care.

Called awake ECMO, this is a form of ECMO done on patients who are kept conscious and often breathing on their own.

“Patients on ECMO are particularly vulnerable, as they are traditionally sedated and placed in a medically induced coma for an average of seven to 10 days,” NUH said.

“But at NUHCS, a national referral centre for patients needing advanced cardiopulmonary support such as ECMO, new approaches are shifting this paradigm,” it added.

There have been studies that show that early physical rehabilitation have a great impact on the recovery of ICU patients.

“By assisting patients with targeted movements while on awake ECMO, we help them return to function sooner which shortens their recovery time,” said Dr Geetha Kayambu, Principal Physiotherapist and Lead in Physiotherapy Research at the Department of Rehabilitation at NUH.

Since last year, the NUHCS CTICU has successfully performed awake ECMO on four patients.