Extracorporeal lung assist for patient with hypercapnia due to status asthmaticus.

A 62-year-old female was brought to our emergency room in status asthmatics. She needed mechanical ventilation because of hypercapnia. However, effective mechanical ventilation was difficult because of severe airflow obstruction. Instead of conventional mechanical ventilation, we used extracorporeal lung assist (ECLA) to prevent barotrauma and lung tissue damage, and to reduce the doses of sedatives and muscle relaxants needed.