A recent article in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery states that ECPR improves patient survival from <20% to 30% with 100% full neurological recovery.
In addition, ECPR made successful organ donation possible for some of the patients that did not survive.
ECPR is the process of initiating ECMO for the purpose of or during the process of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. There are still a significant number of ECMO centers that do not formally provide this service. Reasons for not providing ECPR may include a general belief that it does not provide any or enough benefit to justify it’s use, or simply due to the fact that they do not have staff and equipment readily available to respond in the time frame required to make the procedure beneficial.
There have been other articles and reports from single institutions in the past that indicate up to a 55% survival with good neurological outcome in pediatric patients who were supported with ECMO during the course of CPR. In many of the most successful cases, total body hypothermia was used in conjunction with the ECMO support. ELSO (Extracorporeal LIfe Support Organization) has published Guidelines for ECPR Cases. Hypothermia is also a part of the ELSO recommendations.
Is ECPR a tool your ECMO Programs uses?