Extracorporeal gas exchange: when to start and how to end?

Table 1 Comparative technical difficulty of hemodialysis, extracorporeal removal of carbon dioxide, and extracorporeal oxygenation

	Renal hemodialysis	Extracorporeal removal of carbon dioxide	Extracorporeal oxygenation
Extracorporeal blood flow (ml/min)	200–300	500–1000	2000–4000
Blood pumping	optional	optional	required
Hemodynamic changes	small	small	major
Vascular access	A-V shunt or A-V fistula	A-V shunt or A-V fistula or V-V pumping	V-A or V-V
Surgical complexity	simple	simple	complex
Complexity of equipment	moderate	simple	advanced
Requirement for heparin	small	small	large

Table 1 Reproduced with permission from Gattinoni et al., Control of intermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB) by extracorporeal removal of carbon dioxide, British Journal of Anesthesia, © 1978 Elsevier Inc. [4]

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