Extracorporeal bypass has been used in operating rooms since the 1950s.[1] With the advent of portable extracorporeal systems in the 1980s, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) became available outside the operating room for patients with both medical and traumatic catastrophic cardiopulmonary collapse.[2] ECMO has been introduced domestically via the media, recently garnering attention when it saved a Samsung CEO from cardiac arrest. ECMO is a process which imitates natural gas exchange. In EMCO, blood is continuously pumped from a patient through a membrane oxygenator which removes carbon dioxide and adds oxygen; the oxygenated blood is then returned to the patient. The general criteria for the initiation of ECMO include acute severe cardiac or pulmonary failure that is potentially reversible and unresponsive to conventional management. Clinical use of ECMO has been described in many situations: for cardiogenic shock caused by fulminant myocarditis[3] or acute coronary syndrome,[4] for patients who have undergone cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR),[5] for support in the intensive care unit after pulmonary endarterectomy,[6] and in emergency situations (i.e. a completely obstructed airway where tracheostomy was not possible,[7] massive aspiration,[8] lung trauma and pulmonary resection,[9] massive pulmonary embolus,[10] and status asthmaticus[11]). Other uses have included severe burns and smoke inhalation,[12] drug overdose[13] and respiratory failure during pregnancy.[14] Advances in EMCO technology have spurred greater interest and explosive growth, especially during the ‘swine-flu’ (H1N1) epidemic from 2009–2010.[15]