Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Extracorporeal
Introduction
An extracorporeal medical procedure is a medical procedure which is carried outside the body.
Circulatory procedures
Circulatory procedures
It is usually 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)
- Assisted blood circulation (heart-lung machine) during open heart surgery.
Other procedures
Other procedures
It is also used to refer to 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.
It is also used in extracorporeal radiotherapy, where a large bone a tumour is removed and given a dose far exceeding what would otherwise be safe to give to a patient.