European journal of anaesthesiology
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Observational Study
Postoperative ICU admission following major elective surgery: A nationwide inpatient database study.
Whether the routine use of the ICU after major elective surgery improves postoperative outcomes is not well established. ⋯ This nationwide observational study showed that postoperative ICU admission was associated with improved survival outcomes among patients undergoing three types of cardiac surgery but not among patients undergoing low-risk elective surgery.
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In the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many retrospective single-centre or specialised centre reports have shown promising mortality rates with the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy. However, the mortality rate of an entire country throughout the COVID-19 pandemic remains unknown. ⋯ In Germany, a large proportion of elderly patients with COVID-19 were treated with ECMO, with an unacceptably high hospital mortality. Considering these data, the unconditional use of ECMO therapy in COVID-19 must be carefully considered and advanced age should be considered as a relative contraindication.