Extracorporeal Life Support Organization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Company type | non-profit organization |
|---|---|
| Industry | Health care |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Revenue | 4,489,418 United States dollar (2022)  |
| Total assets | 6,376,770 United States dollar (2022) |
| Website | http://www.elso.org/ |
The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) is a non profit organization established in 1989 supporting health care professionals and scientists who are involved in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).[1] ELSO maintains a registry of both facilities and specialists trained to provide ECMO services. ELSO also maintains registry information that is used to support clinical research, support regulatory agencies, and support individual ELSO centers. ELSO provides educational programs for active centers as well as for facilities who may be involved in the transfer of patients to higher levels of care.[2]
In addition to the North American-based ELSO organization, chapters have been developed to represent the regional needs of ELSO in the rest of the world. Current chapters[3] include:
- Euro-ELSO – Founded in 2011 to serve the European region. Dr. Jan Belohlavek is the current chairman.[4]
- Asia-Pacific ELSO – Founded in 2012 to serve the Asian and Pan-Pacific region. Dr. John Fraser is the current chairman.[5]
- Latin American ELSO – Founded in 2012 to serve the Central and South American region. Dr. Leonardo Salazar is the current chairman.[6]
- South and West Asia and Africa ELSO[7] – Founded in 2013 to serve the Southern and Western Asian region and Africa. Dr. Yatin Mehta is the current chairman.
ELSO Registry
Since 1989, ELSO has maintained a registry of clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients supported with ECMO. A history of the ELSO registry has been published and demonstrates how it evolved over time from paper documentation, to a modern database with web based data entry.[8] Data managers at each of the ELSO centers use detailed database definitions and a point-of-entry data warning system to minimize errors in data entry, as well as full record validation triggered upon submission of the record to ensure all mandatory fields are completed. The ELSO registry has been instrumental in improving ECMO care, post-cardiac arrest management, pediatric ventricular assist devices, and organ transplantation.[9]
The last formally published ELSO Registry report was in 2017, and contained clinical characteristics, complications, and outcomes of 78,397 patients supported with ECMO.[10] Demonstrating the rapid growth of ECMO, at the beginning of 2020, the ELSO Registry contained information on 129,037 patients from 435 member centers across the world.[11]
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ELSO registry began collecting data on the worldwide use of ECMO for patients with COVID-19 and reporting this data on the ELSO website in real time. In September 2020, the outcomes of 1,035 COVID-19 patients supported with ECMO from 213 experienced centers in 36 different countries were published in The Lancet, and demonstrated 38% mortality, which is similar to many other respiratory diseases treated with ECMO.[12]
Recommended ECMO specialists
- Respiratory therapist holding a certificate as a Registered Respiratory Therapist
- Registered nurse with at least one year of intensive care unit experience.
- Clinical perfusionist graduating from a school of perfusion.