An extracorporeal medical procedure is a medical procedure which is carried outside the body.
Circulatory procedures
It is usually a procedure in which blood is taken from a patient’s circulation to have a process applied to it before it is returned to the circulation. All of the apparatus carrying the blood outside the body is termed the extracorporeal circuit.
- Hemodialysis
- Hemofiltration
- Plasmapheresis
- Apheresis
- Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
- Assisted blood circulation (heart-lung machine) during open heart surgery.
Other procedures
It is also used to refer to extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), which is unrelated to other extracorporeal therapies, in that the device used to break up the kidney stones is held completely outside the body, whilst the lithotripsy itself occurs inside the body.(It is worth noting that other similar therapies, for example radiotherapy are not termed extracorporeal)
External links
- Extracorporeal Circulation. MedicalGlossary.org
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