• Tharusan Thevathasan, Megan A Kenny, Finn J Krause, Julia Paul, Thomas Wurster, Sebastian D Boie, Julian Friebel, Wulf Knie, Georg Girke, Arash Haghikia, Markus Reinthaler, Ursula Rauch-Kröhnert, David M Leistner, David Sinning, Georg Fröhlich, Bettina Heidecker, Frank Spillmann, Damaris Praeger, Burkert Pieske, Karl Stangl, Ulf Landmesser, Felix Balzer, and Carsten Skurk.
• Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12203 Berlin, Germany; Institute of Medical Informatics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany; DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Berlin, Potsdamer Str. 58, 10785 Berlin, Germany.
• Resuscitation. 2023 May 1; 186: 109775109775.

BackgroundGuidelines advocate the use of extracorporeal cardio-pulmonary resuscitation with veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) in selected patients with cardiac arrest. Effects of concomitant left-ventricular (LV) unloading with Impella® (ECMELLA) remain unclear. This is the first study to investigate whether treatment with ECMELLA was associated with improved outcomes in patients with refractory cardiac arrest caused by acute myocardial infarction (AMI).MethodsThis study was approved by the local ethical committee. Patients treated with ECMELLA at three centers between 2016 and 2021 were propensity score (PS)-matched to patients receiving VA-ECMO based on age, electrocardiogram rhythm, cardiac arrest location and Survival After Veno-Arterial ECMO (SAVE) score. Cox proportional-hazard and Poisson regression models were used to analyse 30-day mortality rate (primary outcome), hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS) (secondary outcomes). Sensitivity analyses on patient demographics and cardiac arrest parameters were performed.Results95 adult patients were included in this study, out of whom 34 pairs of patients were PS-matched. ECMELLA treatment was associated with decreased 30-day mortality risk (Hazard Ratio [HR] 0.53 [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.31-0.91], P = 0.021), prolonged hospital (Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) 1.71 [95% CI 1.50-1.95], P < 0.001) and ICU LOS (IRR 1.81 [95% CI 1.57-2.08], P < 0.001). LV ejection fraction significantly improved until ICU discharge in the ECMELLA group. Especially patients with prolonged low-flow time and high initial lactate benefited from additional LV unloading.ConclusionsLV unloading with Impella® concomitant to VA-ECMO therapy in patients with therapy-refractory cardiac arrest due to AMI was associated with improved patient outcomes.Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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