Use of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation and Surgical Embolectomy for Massive Pulmonary Embolism in the Emergency Department

Here we describe a case of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) deployed in the emergency department as a bridge to embolectomy to successfully treat massive pulmonary embolism. This provided the opportunity to establish a “Code ECMO” protocol and algorithm for PE with cardiopulmonary instability so that patients can be rapidly triaged to the appropriate treatment modality.