• Natacha Kapandji, Alban Redheuil, Pierre Fouret, Guillaume Hékimian, Guillaume Lebreton, Nicolas Bréchot, Charles-Edouard Luyt, Philippe Cluzel, Alain Combes, and Matthieu Schmidt.
• Medical Intensive Care Unit, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France.
• Crit. Care Med. 2018 Jul 1; 46 (7): e702-e706.

ObjectivesTo describe an unusual complication on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.Data SourcesClinical observation.Study SelectionCase report.Data ExtractionRelevant clinical information.Data SynthesisWe report the cases of three young patients who developed extensive myocardial calcifications on prolonged extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome with septic cardiomyopathy, postresuscitation cardiogenic shock, and septic shock complicating severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, respectively. Extensive myocardial calcifications were confirmed by echocardiography, CT, and cardiac biopsy. The combination of multiple factors, for example, prolonged hemodynamic failure, profound acidosis, high vasopressor doses, and renal failure, may lead to this unusual and severe complication.ConclusionsIntensivists should be aware of this rare but rapid complication on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support that may directly impact outcome. The precise role of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in the timing and frequency of new-onset diffuse myocardial calcification deserves further investigation.

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