Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Retrieval in Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Case-Series of 19 Patients Supported at a High-Volume Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Center.

To evaluate the performance of the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation retrieval team at a high-volume extracorporeal membrane oxygenation center during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Observational study including all adult patients with confirmed infection due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 cannulated at other centers and transported on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to the ICU of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital between 15 March and 10 June 2020. The ICU (capacity expanded to 200 during the pandemic) of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (a 1,100-bed public university hospital in Barcelona), the referral center for extracorporeal respiratory support in Catalonia (7.5 million inhabitants). Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was considered if the Pao Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was initiated in the primary center. Then, patients were transferred to the ICU of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital where they received support until respiratory improvement. After decannulation, patients were discharged for rehabilitation at the primary center. Nineteen patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection and with a mean Pao Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation retrieval can rescue young, previously healthy patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 in whom all the conventional respiratory measures have failed. Thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications are frequent in this cohort.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest.