THE CASE OF SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION OF EXTRACORPOREAL MEMBRANE OXYGENATION IN CRITICAL MITRAL STENOSIS WITH THROMBOSIS OF THE LEFT ATRIUM

Abstract

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is considered either as a linking procedure restoring functioning of an organ or as a link to organ grafting. If there is no expectancy to bring back pulmonary or cardiac functioning and grafting is out of feasibility, one should consider ECMO to be meaningless. In this paper we have demonstrated a successful application of ECMO in a 55 y. o. female patient with terminal stage of critical mitral valve stenosis with left atrial thrombus and her left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 16%. Following 4-day perfusion due to a noticeable positive dynamics the patient underwent mitral valve replacement and LA thrombus removal. In fi ve days after the surgery ECMO was disconnected. At discharge LV ejection fraction was 43%.Conclusions: we believe ECMO should be more widely applied in cardiac surgery.