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Published on: October 24, 2018
ECMO in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Pietro Bertini1, Fabio Guarracino1, Marco Falcone2
1Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana, Pisa, Italy.
Objective:
To analyze the survival rates of patients with COVID-19 supported with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and compare the survival rates of patients with COVID-19 supported with ECMO to patients with influenza supported with ECMO.
Design:
A systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the impact of ECMO as supportive therapy of COVID-19.
Setting:
The authors performed a search through the Cochrane, EMBASE, and MEDLINE/PubMed databases from inception to February 19, 2021, for studies reporting hospitalized patients with COVID-19 managed with ECMO.
Participants:
A total of 134 studies were selected, including 6 eligible for the comparative meta-analysis of COVID-19 versus influenza.
Interventions:
The authors pooled the risk ratio and random effects model.
Measurements And Main Results:
The primary endpoint was the overall mortality of patients with COVID-19 receiving ECMO. Of the total number of 58,472 patients with COVID-19 reported, ECMO was used in 4,044 patients. The analysis suggested an overall in-hospital mortality of 39% (95% CI 0.34-0.43). In the comparative analysis, patients with COVID-19 on ECMO had a higher risk ratio (RR) for mortality when compared to influenza patients on ECMO: 72/164 (44%) v 71/186 (38%) RR 1.34; 95% CI 1.05-1.71; p = 0.03.
Conclusions:
ECMO could be beneficial in patients with COVID-19, according to the authors' meta-analysis. The reported mortality rate was 39%. This systematic analysis can provide clinical advice in the current era and ongoing pandemic.
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