• Ibrahim Sultan, Andreas Habertheuer, Asad A Usman, Arman Kilic, Eric Gnall, Michael E Friscia, Dmitriy Zubkus, Hitoshi Hirose, Pablo Sanchez, Olugbenga Okusanya, Wilson Y Szeto, and Jacob Gutsche.
• Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• J Card Surg. 2020 Jul 1; 35 (7): 1410-1413.

ObjectiveThere is a paucity of clinical data on critically ill patients with COVID-19 requiring extracorporeal life support.MethodsA statewide multi-institutional collaborative for COVID-19 patients was utilized to obtain clinical data on the first 10 critically ill COVID-19 patients who required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).ResultsOf the first 10 patients that required ECMO for COVID-19, the age ranged from 31 to 62 years with the majority (70%) being men. Seven (70%) had comorbidities. The majority (80%) of patients had known sick contact and exposure to COVID-19 positive patients or traveled to pandemic areas inside the United States within the 2 weeks before symptom onset. None of the patients were healthcare workers. The most common symptoms leading to the presentation were high fever ≥103°F (90%), cough (80%) and dyspnea (70%), followed by fatigue and gastrointestinal symptoms (both 30%), myalgia, loss of taste, pleuritic chest pain, and confusion (all 10%). All patients had bilateral infiltrates on chest X-rays suggestive of interstitial viral pneumonia. All patients were cannulated in the venovenous configuration. Two (20%) patients were successfully liberated from ECMO support after 7 and 10 days, respectively, and one (10%) patient is currently on a weaning course. One patient (10%) died after 9 days on ECMO from multiorgan dysfunction.ConclusionsThese preliminary multi-institutional data from a statewide collaborative offer insight into the clinical characteristics of the first 10 patients requiring ECMO for COVID-19 and their initial clinical course. Greater morbidity and mortality is likely to be seen in these critically ill patients with longer follow-up.© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

39 keywords...

hide…