World journal of critical care medicine
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World J Crit Care Med · Apr 2012
ReviewExtracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation for adult cardiac arrest patients.
Cardiac arrest is a major cause of unexpected death in developed countries, and patients with cardiac arrest generally have a poor prognosis. Despite the use of conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), few patients could achieve return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Even if ROSC was achieved, some patients showed re-arrest and many survivors were unable to fully resume their former lifestyles because of severe neurological deficits. ⋯ Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) has been reported to be superior to conventional CPR in in-hospital cardiac arrest patients. Veno- arterial ECMO is generally performed in emergency settings and it can be used to perform ECPR in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Although there is no sufficient evidence to support the efficacy of ECPR in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, encouraging results have been obtained in small case series.