The Patient Selection Criteria for Veno-arterial Extracorporeal Mechanical Oxygenation

Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) plays a crucial role in the management of patients with refractory cardiac and pulmonary dysfunction by providing temporary mechanical hemodynamic and respiratory support. However, the paucity of guidelines on indications for administering it and the failure to timely initiate VA-ECMO often result in a high in-hospital mortality rate and poor six-month outcomes after VA-ECMO deployment. Due to ethical issues, randomized controlled studies with VA-ECMO have not been conducted so that no recommended evidence-based guidelines exist for VA-ECMO patient-selection criteria. Therefore, the indication for administering the device depends solely on expert opinion after reviewing the literature. We conducted a review of the current literature to better understand and classify the need for proper patient selection, including proven indications for VA-ECMO.