Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 30, 2025
Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Peripheral Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Without Left Ventricular Venting
Published on: January 17, 2025
Transesophageal Echocardiography-Guided Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Cannulation in COVID-19 Patients
Diana Morales Castro1, Etienne Abdelnour-Berchtold2, Martin Urner3
1Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine, Toronto General Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Objectives:
A paucity of data supports the use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) for bedside extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) cannulation. Concerns have been raised about performing TEEs in patients with COVID-19. The authors describe the use and safety of TEE guidance for ECMO cannulation for COVID-19.
Design:
Single-center retrospective cohort study.
Setting:
The study took place in the intensive care unit of an academic tertiary center.
Participants:
The authors included 107 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who underwent bedside venovenous ECMO (VV ECMO) cannulation under TEE guidance between May 2020 and June 2021.
Interventions:
TEE-guided bedside VV ECMO cannulation.
Measurements:
Patient characteristics, physiologic and ventilatory parameters, and echocardiographic findings were analyzed. The primary outcome was the number of successful TEE-guided bedside cannulations without complications. The secondary outcomes were cannulation complications, frequency of cannula repositioning, and TEE-related complications.
Main Results:
TEE-guided cannulation was successful in 99% of the patients. Initial cannula position was adequate in all but 1 patient. Fourteen patients (13%) required cannula repositioning during ECMO support. Forty-five patients (42%) had right ventricular systolic dysfunction, and 9 (8%) had left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Twelve patients (11%) had intracardiac thrombi. One superficial arterial injury and 1 pneumothorax occurred. No pericardial tamponade, hemothorax or intraabdominal bleeding occurred in the authors' cohort. No TEE-related complications or COVID-19 infection of healthcare providers were reported during this study.
Conclusions:
Bedside TEE guidance for VV ECMO cannulation is safe in patients with severe respiratory failure due to COVID-19. No tamponade or hemothorax, nor TEE-related complications were observed in the authors' cohort.
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