NHS chiefs believe extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) saved several hundred lives during the Covid 19 pandemic, according to a new study published by The Journal of Intensive Care Medicine.

People whose breathing capacity had collapsed were more likely to stay alive if they had ECMO rather than only a spell on a mechanical ventilator.

During ECMO, blood is taken out of the unconscious patient’s body, put into an oxygenator, has oxygen and carbon dioxide added and is then reinserted into the patient. The hope is that the extra oxygen will improve patients breathing enough to help them pull through.

The analysis is made of 1,363 people treated for severe Covid using a ventilator in the UK in between March 2020 and February 2021. 243 who were taken by ambulance to either Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust or the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust in London to try to save their lives using ECMO.

The other 1,120 were known as “perceived futility” cases – those it was deemed inappropriate to put on ECMO because they were considered too old and sick to survive Covid, and ECMO was thought unlikely to change their outcome. Doctors also had to consider who would benefit most from the limited availability of artificial life support, which is costly and labour-intensive, at the two specialist centres.

The study found that 44% of the non-ECMO group died, while mortality was much lower among those who had the treatment at 26%.

NHS England’s national medical director Prof Stephen Powis said: “This study is a testament to the incredible hard work of NHS staff over the last two years who have treated more than 700,000 Covid-19 patients in hospital including on ECMO machines, which have helped save hundreds of lives.”