Fresenius Medical Care Heart & Lung enables ECMO simulation in virtual reality

Fresenius Medical Care’s heart & lung division Xenios AG is an expert in extracorporeal heart and lung support, specialized on products for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). ECMO treatment, used as “last rescue” procedure, is rarely performed on intensive care units (ICU) but mostly in so-called ECMO centers which are specialized in this form of treatment. Thus, intensive care physicians are often not familiar with this kind of treatment.

Therefore, there is a need to introduce physicians to this topic in a safe and easy-to-use digital environment. Virtual reality (VR) can help these physicians in getting first insights in ECMO treatment. With the help of VR goggles, procedures such as cannulation can be mimicked step-by-step, potentially overcoming existing hurdles.

Within a virtual ICU setting, Xenios shows a new perspective on ECMO treatments at ESICM LIVES congress in Paris. Based on a fictitious case, interested visitors can perform an ECMO procedure virtually with the use of VR googles or follow the simulation on a screen.