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Desperate ECMO treatment used at Bagram to breathe life into NATO ally
A 455th Expeditionary Medical Group team combines efforts with the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation team to save the life of a NATO ally at the Craig Joint-Theater Hospital at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, on Feb. 18, 2016. The ECMO team, dispatched from San Antonio Military Medical Center, uses technology that bypasses the lungs and infuses the blood directly with oxygen, while removing the harmful carbon dioxide from the blood stream. The patient was airlifted to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, where he will receive 7 to 14 days of additional ECMO treatment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Rau)