Extended survival and re-hospitalisation among paediatric patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for primary cardiac dysfunction

Abstract

Extended survival rates for paediatric hospital survivors of cardiac extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support for medical and post-surgical indications are encouraging. However, re-hospitalisation within the first year following hospital discharge is common, and many patients require further cardiac surgery. Although re-admission hospital mortality is low, longer-term follow-up of quality-of-life indicators is required

Use of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation After Congenital Heart Disease Repair: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…However, the in-hospital mortality in connection with the use of ECMO still remains high despite significant improvements in ECMO technique and management (4). In addition, using ECMO also raises concerns over severe complications such as intracranial hemorrhage, sepsis, and renal failure (5,6).…”

Intermediate-Term Results of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Support Following Congenital Heart Surgery

“…The rates of further unplanned cardiac interventions and hospitalizations were 65% and 39%, respectively, within our cohort, similar to previously reported data. 11 –14 In our cohort, 12% of patients had chronic respiratory failure, with all of these patients being tracheostomy dependent at one-year postdischarge. In addition, ongoing neurologic dysfunction, a long-established ECMO-associated morbidity, was noted to be present in five of our patients, again similar to previously reported results.…”