Membrane Lung and Blood Pump Use During Prolonged Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: Trends From 2002 to 2017.

Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) has grown in its application since its first clinical description in the 1970s. The technology has been used to support a wide variety of mechanical support modalities and diseases, including respiratory failure, cardiorespiratory failure, and cardiac failure. Over many decades and safety and efficacy studies, followed by randomized clinical trials and thousands of clinical uses, ECLS is considered as an accepted treatment option for severe pulmonary and selected cardiovascular failure.