Date Time Share New evidence sheds light on best practices for treating patients with severe respiratory failure from COVID-19 Findings suggest ECMO life-support therapy can improve odds of survival for patients critically ill with COVID-19 BOSTON – COVID-19 has caused more than 2 million deaths worldwide since the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic in March 2020. Patients with severe COVID-19 frequently experience respiratory distress and require assistance breathing. For patients whose lungs are so injured that even a ventilator is unable to deliver enough oxygen, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) — which does the work of the lungs by removing carbon dioxide and adding oxygen to blood outside the body — may improve the odds of survival for certain patients with severe COVID-19.