Activities of an ECMO Center for Severe Respiratory Failure: ECMO Retrieval and Beyond, A 4-Year Experience

Abstract

Beyond retrieval and management of patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) center also encompasses several other actions, such as on-call consultations, advice, and counseling, to the physicians at the peripheral centers, but few data are available on this topic. Therefore, the authors describe the composite activities of retrieval and counseling of an ECMO center since 2014. The referral calls addressed to the authors' ECMO center for patients with respiratory failure were prospectively recorded in a dedicated database. Referral call frequency, patient data, and results of the calls were analyzed. The 12-bed intensive care unit of Careggi Hospital in Florence, the ECMO referral center for Tuscany, and the center of Italy, with a mobile ECMO team. Patients from intensive care units of peripheral hospitals for whom a referral call was addressed to the authors' ECMO center. Many possible responses were given after a referral call, varying from ECMO team deployment to advice or to refusal. From January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2017, 231 calls were received at the authors' ECMO center, of which 220 calls were for acute respiratory failure cases. Throughout the study period the overall number of calls did not vary, but the percentage of ECMO retrievals decreased, whereas the percentage of ARF patients from peripheral hospital admitted to our ECMO center on conventional ventilation increased. Fifty-five patients were treated by the mobile ECMO team and were transferred on ECMO; 59 were admitted on ventilatory support. In flu periods the overall calls were more frequent than in the no-flu periods (171 v 82 calls), and more ECMO retrieval missions were deployed. During the study period, a decreased number of patients retrieved on ECMO was observed, whereas patients transferred on ventilation increased, with an overall unchanged number of referred patients.