DARPA Awards Johns Hopkins $18 M for ECMO

Johns Hopkins Medicine has been awarded more than $18 million from the "Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The plan is to lead a multi-institutional effort to further develop the novel "Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation" (ECMO), an advanced life-support system device.

ECMO devices assist patients by enabling heart and lung function when their organs are too damaged or weak to function normally. The plan is to create a new type of portable ECMO device and system capable of rapid deployment to support wounded military personnel who need lifesaving care but are unable to be immediately transported to a medical facility.

The problem is that traditional ECMO systems can't be easily deployed outside of clinical settings and require vast clinical resources. ECMO is increasingly relied on to support patients with respiratory failure, often for prolonged periods, in order to deliver oxygen to tissues while eliminating carbon dioxide from the blood.

The research team is working on a device that will not only carry out existing ECMO capabilities, but will have new features to include a smart system capable of detecting, interpreting and automatically be able to adjust the level of support based on biological feedback from a patient using the machine. The hope is that the device will also have the ability to provide resuscitation, as well as have improved catheters, which will make it easier to access the patient's vascular system for ECMO use.

Project Leader Steve Keller, M.D, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine and Sug-Min Cho D.O., M.H.S Co, both report "These devices have immense potential for civilian use and could transform the treatment landscape for lung injuries and trauma. The addition of novel features to existing ECOM systems will expand use of this technology and be able to improve clinical care."

Researchers will use portions of the funding to provide for laboratory expansion at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Current plans are to develop and construct prototypes of their portable life support device in collaboration with multiple teams at various institutions. These institutions include Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Massachusetts, and Lowell and Vanderbilt University.