Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation and Airway Management: Redefining Safety in High-risk Patients.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been used for over 50 years to facilitate oxygenation and remove carbon dioxide in patients with respiratory and cardiorespiratory failure. Recently, it has been utilized in perioperative high-risk airway management to create safe conditions for tracheal intubation or to enable surgical access to the lower airway, which would not be possible with conventional anesthetic techniques. To date, it has been used as a component of airway management in a small minority of registered ECMO cases. This review aims to summarize the existing clinical evidence and societal guidelines for ECMO in the context of airway management.