• Katherine W Gonzalez, Brian G A Dalton, Katrina L Weaver, Ashley K Sherman, Shawn D St Peter, and Charles L Snyder.
• Department of Surgery, Children's Mercy Hospital, 2401 Gillham Road, Kansas, MO, 64108, USA.
• Pediatr. Surg. Int. 2016 Jul 1; 32 (7): 665-9.

PurposeLiterature reports worse outcomes for operations performed during off-hours. As this has not been studied in pediatric extracorporeal life support (ECLS), we compared complications based on the timing of cannulation..MethodsThis is a retrospective review of 176 pediatric ECLS patients between 2004 and 2015. Patients cannulated during daytime hours (7:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M., M-F) were compared to off-hours (nighttime or weekend) using t-test and Chi-square.ResultsThe most common indications for ECLS were congenital diaphragmatic hernia (33 %) and persistent pulmonary hypertension (23 %). When comparing regular hours (40 %) to off-hours cannulation (60 %), there were no significant differences in central nervous system complications, hemorrhage (extra-cranial), cannula repositioning, conversion from venovenous to venoarterial, mortality on ECLS, or survival-to-discharge. The overall complication rate was slightly lower in the off-hours group (45.7 % versus 61.9 %, P = 0.034).ConclusionOutcomes were not significantly worse for patients undergoing ELCS cannulation during off-hours compared to normal weekday working hours.

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