• Shahzad Shaefi, Samantha K Brenner, Shruti Gupta, Brian P O'Gara, Megan L Krajewski, David M Charytan, Sobaata Chaudhry, Sara H Mirza, Vasil Peev, Mark Anderson, Anip Bansal, Salim S Hayek, Anand Srivastava, Kusum S Mathews, Tanya S Johns, Amanda Leonberg-Yoo, Adam Green, Justin Arunthamakun, Keith M Wille, Tanveer Shaukat, Harkarandeep Singh, Andrew J Admon, Matthew W Semler, Miguel A Hernán, Ariel L Mueller, Wei Wang, David E Leaf, and STOP-COVID Investigators.
• Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 1 Deaconess Road, Boston, MA, 02215, USA. sshaefi@bidmc.harvard.edu.
• Intensive Care Med. 2021 Feb 1; 47 (2): 208221208-221.

PurposeLimited data are available on venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in patients with severe hypoxemic respiratory failure from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).MethodsWe examined the clinical features and outcomes of 190 patients treated with ECMO within 14 days of ICU admission, using data from a multicenter cohort study of 5122 critically ill adults with COVID-19 admitted to 68 hospitals across the United States. To estimate the effect of ECMO on mortality, we emulated a target trial of ECMO receipt versus no ECMO receipt within 7 days of ICU admission among mechanically ventilated patients with severe hypoxemia (PaO2/FiO2 < 100). Patients were followed until hospital discharge, death, or a minimum of 60 days. We adjusted for confounding using a multivariable Cox model.ResultsAmong the 190 patients treated with ECMO, the median age was 49 years (IQR 41-58), 137 (72.1%) were men, and the median PaO2/FiO2 prior to ECMO initiation was 72 (IQR 61-90). At 60 days, 63 patients (33.2%) had died, 94 (49.5%) were discharged, and 33 (17.4%) remained hospitalized. Among the 1297 patients eligible for the target trial emulation, 45 of the 130 (34.6%) who received ECMO died, and 553 of the 1167 (47.4%) who did not receive ECMO died. In the primary analysis, patients who received ECMO had lower mortality than those who did not (HR 0.55; 95% CI 0.41-0.74). Results were similar in a secondary analysis limited to patients with PaO2/FiO2 < 80 (HR 0.55; 95% CI 0.40-0.77).ConclusionIn select patients with severe respiratory failure from COVID-19, ECMO may reduce mortality.

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