European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Mar 2016
When all else fails: extracorporeal life support in therapy-refractory cardiogenic shock.
No guidelines for mechanical circulatory support in patients with therapy-refractory cardiogenic shock and multiorgan failure including ongoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) exist. To achieve immediate cardiopulmonary stabilization, we established an interdisciplinary concept with on-site percutaneous extracorporeal life support (ECLS) implantation. ⋯ ECLS serves as a bridge-to-decision and bridge-to-treatment device. Our interdisciplinary ECLS programme achieved acceptable survival of critically ill patients despite a substantial percentage of patients having been resuscitated and no absolute exclusion criteria. Further studies defining inclusion- and exclusion criteria might additionally improve outcome.