3 ms·
> Just the cost is almost twice that of a standard, expensive cancer treatment. But unlike cancer treatment a lot of it is mechanical engineering and hence ame
by kwhitefoot 2y ago
> Just the cost is almost twice that of a standard, expensive cancer treatment.
But unlike cancer treatment a lot of it is mechanical engineering and hence amenable to optimisation if the market were large enough.
- iancmceachern 2y agoAnd reusable
- flakeoil 2y agoBut the cost of ECMO is not the machine, it's all things around it such as doctors and nurses, blood plasma, medication etc. According to the OP link 82% of the cost is not machine related and also not reusable. "On average, 82% of costs for the total hospital stay were related to personnel use, and blood products constituted 7%, lab and radiology 2.5%, disposable items 3% and medication 1.5%."
- kwhitefoot 2y agoIf the machine were better designed it would require less manual intervention and the manual work required would be simpler. This would require either fewer hours of expensive personell or it might allow the use of less expensive personell for routine work.
- Zenzero 2y agoECMO is not getting "optimized" any time soon. It is solidly a procedure that requires enormous human focus and labor to maintain the conditions that enable it.