Advanced Life Support Technology

Sub: The equipment that keeps critically ill patients stable while their bodies recover.

Technology in the ICU is not there for its own sake. Each piece of equipment serves a specific clinical purpose: replacing or supporting a function the body can no longer perform independently, or providing the monitoring precision needed to catch a change before it becomes a crisis.

Mechanical Ventilation For patients who cannot breathe adequately on their own, Dräger ventilators provide controlled respiratory support. Both invasive ventilation (via an endotracheal tube) and non-invasive ventilation (via a tight-fitting mask) are available, with the least invasive approach used wherever clinically appropriate. Ventilator settings are continuously reviewed and adjusted to support the patient’s own breathing effort as it returns.

Continuous Haemodynamic Monitoring The Marquette monitoring system tracks blood pressure (both non-invasive and invasive arterial line measurement), heart rate and rhythm, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, and temperature in real time across every room simultaneously. For patients requiring more detailed cardiac monitoring, pulmonary artery catheterisation and continuous cardiac output monitoring are available.

Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) When the kidneys fail acutely, whether from sepsis, surgery, or other critical illness, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) provides slow, gentle blood purification that the failing kidneys can no longer perform. Unlike conventional haemodialysis, CRRT runs continuously over 24 hours, making it better tolerated in haemodynamically unstable patients. Dialysis is also available for more stable patients requiring intermittent kidney support.

ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) ECMO is the most advanced life-support technology available in critical care. When the heart, lungs, or both are failing so severely that conventional ventilation and medication cannot maintain adequate circulation and oxygenation, ECMO takes over those functions externally, circulating the patient’s blood through an artificial lung and pump outside the body while the organs recover.

ECMO is available at very few hospitals in Vietnam. It requires not just the machine but a highly trained team capable of managing the complex physiology involved around the clock. At FV, ECMO represents the outer edge of what is available to critically ill patients in the private sector in Vietnam.

[Note to FV team – Critical: Please confirm that ECMO is currently active and staffed at FV. Please also confirm whether VV-ECMO (respiratory), VA-ECMO (cardiac), or both are available, and whether there are any outcome data or case numbers that can be shared.]

Nutritional Support Critically ill patients are in a state of high metabolic stress. Adequate nutrition is not a comfort measure — it directly affects recovery speed, immune function, wound healing, and the ability to wean from ventilator support. FV’s ICU uses advanced systems to assess each patient’s nutritional needs and body composition, including muscle mass and fluid status, and delivers enteral (tube feeding) or parenteral (intravenous) nutrition accordingly. Our specialist nutritionists are part of the daily ICU review.

Central Venous Access and Arterial Lines Placed by experienced intensivists under ultrasound guidance for precision and safety, these allow continuous monitoring, rapid medication delivery, and reliable blood sampling without repeated peripheral cannulation.

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