Source
Lariboisière Hospital, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Medical and Toxicological Critical Care Department, University of Paris 7, 2 rue Ambroise Paré, 75010, Paris, France.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To report the feasibility, complications, and outcomes of emergency extracorporeal life support (ECLS) in refractory cardiac arrests in medical intensive care unit (ICU).
DESIGN AND SETTING:
Prospective cohort study in the medical ICU in a university hospital in collaboration with the cardiosurgical team of a neighboring hospital.
PATIENTS:
Seventeen patients (poisonings: 12/17) admitted over a 2-year period for cardiac arrest unresponsive to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced cardiac life support, without return of spontaneous circulation.
INTERVENTIONS:
ECLS femoral implantation under continuous cardiac massage, using a centrifugal pump connected to a hollow-fiber membrane oxygenator.
MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS:
Stable ECLS was achieved in 14 of 17 patients. Early complications included massive transfusions (n=8) and the need for surgical revision at the cannulation site for bleeding (n=1). Four patients (24%) survived at medical ICU discharge. Deaths resulted from multiorgan failure (n=8), thoracic bleeding(n=2), severe sepsis (n=2), and brain death (n=1). Massive hemorrhagic pulmonary edema during CPR (n=5) and major capillary leak syndrome (n=6) were observed. Three cardiotoxic-poisoned patients (18%, CPR duration: 30, 100, and 180 min) were alive at 1-year follow-up without sequelae. Two of these patients survived despite elevated plasma lactate concentrations before cannulation (39.0 and 20.0 mmol/l). ECLS was associated with a significantly lower ICU mortality rate than that expected from the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (91.9%) and lower than the maximum Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (>90%).
CONCLUSIONS:
Emergency ECLS is feasible in medical ICU and should be considered as a resuscitative tool for selected patients suffering from refractory cardiac arrest.