• Filippo Sanfilippo, Mariachiara Ippolito, Cristina Santonocito, Gennaro Martucci, Tiziana Carollo, Alessandro Bertani, Patrizio Vitulo, Michele Pilato, Giovanna Panarello, Antonino Giarratano, and Antonio Arcadipane.
• Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Istituto Mediterraneo per i Trapianti e Terapie ad alta specializzazione (IRCCS-ISMETT), Palermo, Italy - filipposanfi@yahoo.it.
• Minerva Anestesiol. 2019 Sep 1; 85 (9): 971-980.

BackgroundAcute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) survivors are affected with long-term physical/mental impairments, with improvements limited mostly to the first year after intensive care (ICU) discharge. Furthermore, caregivers of ICU patients exhibit psychological problems after family-member recovery. We evaluated the long-term physical and mental recovery of ARDS survivors treated with veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO), and the long-term psychological impact on their caregivers.MethodsSingle-center prospective evaluation of a retrospective cohort of 75 ARDS patients treated with VV-ECMO during a seven-year period (25.10.2009-11.08.2016). Primary outcomes were the 36-Item Short-Form Health-Survey (SF-36, patients only), and risks of depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), both for patients and their caregivers. We investigated correlations between outcomes and population characteristics.ResultsOf 50 ICU-survivors, seven died later and five were not contactable. Among 38 living patients, 33 participated (87%, 31 with their caregiver) with 2.7 years of median follow-up. Physical and mental SF-36 component scores were 42 (inter-quartile range, IQR:22) and 52 (IQR:18.5), respectively. The worst domains of the SF-36 were physical-role limitations (25, IQR:100) and general-health perception (56, IQR:42.5). Psychological tests highlighted high risk of depression (39-42%, patients; 39-52%, caregivers), anxiety (42%, patients; 39%, caregivers), and PTSD (47%, patients; 61%, caregivers). Patient depression or anxiety scores were correlated to age and to the outcome reported by caregivers.ConclusionsAt almost three-year follow-up, ARDS survivors treated with VV-ECMO showed reduced health-related quality-of-life and high risk of psychological impairment, in particular PTSD. Caregivers of this population were at high psychological risk as well.

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