Predictors of Mortality in Patients With VA-Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. (ECMO)

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is an advanced life support modality for critically ill patients with refractory cardiac or respiratory failure. It is a temporary support for cardiorespiratory failure, bridging time for recovery or permanent assist. Besides, ECMO could be used in a variety of clinical presentations, such as severe traumas, extracorporeal-assisted rewarming (ECAR) of accidental deep hypothermia, and can be used as a bridge to lung or heart transplant.

Cardiogenic shock can be a fatal condition with poor prognosis. Conventional treatments for cardiogenic shock include vasopressor agents guided by invasive monitoring, and intraaortic balloon pump support. There has been growing interest in the use of veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) as a salvage therapy for patients in cardiogenic shock refractory to conventional treatments. However, there is a low rate of survival to weaning or bridging therapy among patients with cardiogenic shock requiring ECMO (42-56%). Moreover, VA-ECMO use is associated with complications, including bleeding, renal failure. Thus, the benefits of this potentially life-saving support is still subject to discussion, especially for VA-ECMO use in the setting of cardiogenic shock as the evidence is scarce. Therefore, it important to identify the patients' related factors that may be associated with poor outcomes using real-world data. We will conduct a retrospective observational study of all patients at Heart Hospital who required VA-ECMO support due to cardiogenic shock during 1/06/2016 and 1/06/2022 with the aim of quantifying the incidence of in-hospital mortality among patients who required VA-ECMO in the setting of cardiogenic shock along with determining the predictors of mortality.