Prognosis of patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation plus continuous arteriovenous hemofiltration.

Background: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been utilized for critically ill patients such as those with life-threatening respiratory failure or post-cardiotomy cardiogenic shock. Patients on ECMO with acute renal failure have high mortality rates. This study identifies specific predictors of hospital mortality for patients receiving ECMO and continuous arteriovenous hemofiltration (CAVH).

Methods: This study reviewed the medical records of 123 critically ill patients on ECMO plus CAVH at a cardiovascular surgical intensive care unit (CVSICU) at a tertiary care university hospital between March 2003 and August 2010. Patient baseline, clinical, and laboratory data were collected retrospectively as survival predicators.

Results: The overall mortality rate was 85.4%. The most common conditions requiring ECMO plus CAVH were cardiogenic shock and oliguria. The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score and organ system failure (OSF) score both indicated good discriminative power (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC] 0.812 ± 0.048 and 0.758 ± 0.057, respectively). Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that age, mean arterial pressure, and OSF score on day 1 of ECMO plus CAVH were independent risk factors for hospital mortality. Cumulative survival rates at the 6-month follow-up differed significantly (p < 0.001) between those with an OSF score ≤ 4 vs. those with an OSF score > 4.

Conclusions: During ECMO plus CAVH support, both the OSF and APACHE II scores showed good discriminative power in predicting hospital mortality for these patients.