Neonatal and Paediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) in a Single Asian Tertiary Centre

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a cardiopulmonary bypass technique (CPB) which provides life-saving support in patients with refractory cardiorespiratory failure until cardiopulmonary recovery or organ replacement.

This is a single centre retrospective study reporting the largest series of paediatric patients in Singapore who received ECMO support over an 11-year period from January 2002 to December 2012. The objective is to describe the characteristics of the patients and to report the survival to hospital discharge, complications during ECMO and other long-term complications.

Forty-eight patients received ECMO during the study period. ECMO was initiated for myocarditis in majority of the paediatric patients whereas postoperative low cardiac output state was the most common indication in the neonatal population. The overall survival rate to hospital discharge was 45.8%. Survival was highest in the neonates with respiratory failure (75%). Haematological and cardiac complications were most common during ECMO. Age group, gender, duration of ECMO, need for renal replacement therapy, acute neurological complications were not associated with mortality. Those needing inotropic support during ECMO had poorer survival while those with hypertension requiring vasodilator treatment had a higher survival rate. The survival rates for ECMO patients more than doubled from the initial 6 years of 23% to 54% in the last 5 years of the study period. Long-term complications encountered included neurological, respiratory and cardiac problems.

ECMO is a life-saving modality for neonatal and paediatric patients with cardiopulmonary failure from diverse causes. Patients with persistent need for inotropes during ECMO had poorer outcome. Centre experience had an impact on ECMO outcome.