Study: ECMO ‘significantly’ improves heart attack patients’ survival

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is touting a study that found the use of life support improved survival in certain cardiac arrest patients.

Published in The Lancet, the study, known as the Advanced Reperfusion Strategies for Refractory Cardiac Arrest (ARREST) trial, used the life support machine called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ECMO to replicate the functions of the heart and lungs to improve the survival of people who suffered from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, according to a news release.