title: Emergency bedside extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for rescue of acute tracheal obstruction.
abstract: A 39-year-old man experienced total obstruction of a distal tracheal plastic stent by a tumor mass, preventing effective ventilation and resulting in cardiac arrest. Resuscitation by emergency bedside venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) permitted time to physically  remove the obstructing tumor and reestablish successful ventilation and liberation from ventilatory support. We review several other reported cases of emergency ECMO to resuscitate patients with acute airway obstruction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Sharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego, CA 92123, USA. david.wilms@sharp.com
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Willms
authors.forename: Ruben
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mendez
authors.forename: Vanjah
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.forename: Joseph H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chammas
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D015199:Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000556:secondary; D014133:Tracheal Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*