extracorporeal

An extracorporeal medical procedure is a medical procedure which is performed outside the body.

Circulatory procedures

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)
• Cardiopulmonary bypass during open heart surgery.

Other procedures

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.

Extracorporeal radiotherapy, where a large bone with a tumour is removed and given a dose far exceeding what would otherwise be safe to give to a patient.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Extracorporeal Circulation. MedicalGlossary.org