Post-Cardiotomy Extra-Corporeal Life Support Study: a Retrospective International Multicenter Cohort Study

The prevalence of post-cardiotomy extracorporeal life support (PC-ECLS) reported in the literature varies between 0.6% and 3.6% of all cardiac surgical cases and has represented the most frequent indication for ECLS up to 2012.

Indications for PC-ECLS usually include intra-operative failure to wean from cardiopulmonary bypass due to perioperative left, right or biventricular failure, or refractory cardiogenic shock/cardiac arrest in the postoperative period.

Recently, The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Registry reported a remarkable increase in the use of ECLS as a supportive therapy after cardiac surgery. However a disappointing trend was observed with regards to the in-hospital survival rate, reaching only 15% in the latest period.

Furthermore, despite this increase in use and new technological developments in this area, only a few comprehensive and dedicated reports about PC-ECLS have been presented. Nevertheless, PC-ECLS, has represented the main indication for ECLS utilization, and is characterized by specific aspects (duration and type of underlying disease, severity of comorbidities, indication and type of surgical procedure, modality of access and timing of implant, complication types and rates) when compared to other ECLS indications. Often these aspects are exacerbated when there is limited experience in these procedures, particularly in centers without well-established ECLS programs. All of these factors may potentially influence ECLS management and final outcomes in post-cardiotomy patients, and make this particular setting one in which there are higher risks for unfavorable results. Careful evaluation of patient features, complication rates and management, and in-hospital outcomes according to accumulated experience should provide meaningful information to assess center performance. Furthermore, analysis of overall and trends of outcomes will hopefully indicate further areas of improvement in order to improve the ECLS results. Additionally, a rather small patient cohort within the PC-ELS group, receives veno-venous (VV) support due to post-cardiotomy respiratory failure. While there is only limited data available regarding survival and predictors for a favorable outcome after post-cardiotomy VV-ECMO, these patients will be included in the current trial as well, potentially clarifying additional predictors for survival in this specific patient group. Finally, Extracorporeal carbon-dioxide removal (ECCOR) has as added a new dimension to the intensive care management of acute cardiac and/or respiratory failure in adult patient care. However, regarding post-cardiotomy patients, no studies have been published before. Therefore, as an additional subject, patients receiving ECCOR-support as an ECLS modality after cardiac surgery will be included to the current study as well in order to provide the first post-cardiotomy ECCOR results.