• M Veien, L Lindberg, P Tynkkynen, and H B Ravn.
• Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, University Hospital of Aarhus, Aarhus N, Denmark.
• Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2015 Mar 1;59(3):337-45.

BackgroundExtracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a life-saving resource-intensive technology for patients with respiratory and/or circulatory failure. We aimed to evaluate outcome data from three Nordic paediatric centres comparing with data from the International Registry of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) and selected high-volume single-centre studies.MethodsOne-hundred nineteen patients < 19 years from 2002 to 2012 were enrolled. Data on demographics and outcome were collected using a standardised registration form. Outcome data were compared with the ELSO registry and high-volume single-centre studies.ResultsDemographics, indications and diagnosis were similar to the ELSO register. Survival after ECMO was similar to outcome data from the ELSO register, apart from paediatric cardiac ECMO, where a significantly better survival to discharge was seen in the Nordic centres (68% vs. 49%; P = 0.03). Comparison with high-volume centres in the period after 2005 demonstrated a significantly better survival after cardiac ECMO in a single high-volume centre study, whereas four studies had significantly lower survival after cardiac ECMO. No significant difference was seen in children receiving respiratory ECMO in the Nordic centres and high-volume centres.ConclusionsSurvival after ECMO in three low-volume Nordic centres demonstrated comparable outcome data with ELSO data and data from high-volume centres. We believe regular quality assurance surveys, as the present study, should be performed in order to maintain excellent therapy within the individual ECMO centres.© 2015 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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