The International journal of artificial organs
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Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a therapy that ensures adequate tissue oxygen delivery in patients suffering cardiac and/or respiratory failure that are unresponsive to conventional therapy. During ECMO, it is common to see a decrease in urine output that may be associated with acute renal failure. In this context, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) should be considered. ⋯ Discharge survival rate was 83%, all of them with normal renal function. Concurrent CRRT with ECMO is technically feasible and efficacious in the management of fluid overload and solute clearance. We report the first experience with these therapies in a Latin American neonatal-pediatric ECMO program associated with the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Renal replacement therapy in acute renal failure: which index is best for dialysis dose quantification?
The "delivered dose" of dialysis may significantly affect the outcome of acute renal failure (ARF) patients requiring dialysis. Our study aimed to elucidate which dose quantification method offers an appropriate parameter to compare different treatments in ARF patients. ⋯ The SRI calculated using direct dialysate effluent quantification appears to be more reliable as an index of the dialysis dose compared to other methods in ARF patients. However, the use of the dialysate-side SRI is limited by the difficulty of dialysate effluent collection.
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Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used in managing patients with potentially reversible cardio-respiratory failure refractory to conventional methods. Multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS), usually due to sepsis, remains the main cause of mortality in such patients. We report a series of six pediatric patients with sepsis-induced MODS where extracorporeal albumin dialysis (EAD) was used while the patients were on ECMO. ⋯ According to our previous experience and published results, all these patients would have been expected to die. The present results suggest that EAD may prove to have a role in the treatment of pediatric patients with sepsis-induced MODS. Further research is required to identify the group of patients who would benefit most by EAD as well as understand the clearance of inflammatory mediators and other mechanisms involved with the use of EAD.