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ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Patients with end-stage lung disease often progress to critical illness, which dramatically reduces their chance of survival following lung transplantation. Pre-transplant deconditioning has a significant impact on outcomes for all lung transplant patients and is likely a major contributor to increased mortality in critically ill lung transplant recipients. The aim of this report is to describe a series of patients bridged to lung transplant with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and examine the potential impact of active rehabilitation and ambulation during pre-transplant ECMO. METHODS: This retrospective case series reviews all patients bridged to lung transplantation with ECMO at a single tertiary care lung transplant center. Pre-transplant ECMO patients receiving active rehabilitation and ambulation were compared to those patients who were bridged with ECMO but did not receive pre-transplant rehabilitation. RESULTS: Nine consecutive patients between April 2007 and May 2012 were identified for inclusion. One year survival for all patients was 100%, with one patient alive at 4 months post-transplant. The five patients participating in pre-transplant rehabilitation had shorter mean post-transplant length of mechanical ventilation (4 days vs. 34 days, p = 0.01), ICU stay (11 days vs. 45 days, p = 0.01), and hospital stay (26 days vs. 80 days, p = 0.01). No patients who participated in active rehabilitation had post-transplant myopathy, compared to three of four patients who did not participate in pre-transplant rehabilitation on ECMO. CONCLUSIONS: Bridging selected critically ill patients to transplant with ECMO is a viable treatment option, and active participation in physical therapy, including ambulation, may provide a more rapid post-transplantation recovery. This innovative strategy requires further study to fully evaluate potential benefits and risks.
Respiratory care 12/2012; · 2.01 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is an important rescue therapy for patients with cardiac and/or respiratory failure, with a growing body of literature supporting its use. Despite widespread use of ECMO, there remains a paucity of data on optimal management strategies for ECMO patients. Management of ECMO patients involves an understanding of the complex interaction between this technology and the critically ill patients being supported. ECMO providers typically rely on a combination of consensus guidelines and institutional experience to make management decisions. Substantial controversy continues to exist regarding many elements of ECMO management, including seemingly straightforward decisions such as the initial implementation of this technology. In addition, there are multiple providers involved in the management of ECMO patients who must be co-ordinated for this supportive therapy to be most effective. This manuscript provides an overview of current techniques for treating respiratory ECMO patients.
Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine 11/2012; 6(5):513-21.
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ABSTRACT: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for neonatal and pediatric cardiac and/or respiratory failure is well established, and its use for adult respiratory failure is rapidly increasing. Management strategies developed over the past 30 years coupled with significant recent technological advances have led to improved ECMO survival. These new technologies are expanding the potential applications for ECMO in exciting ways, including new patient populations and the ability to make ECMO mobile for both intra- and inter-hospital transport. In this article, we highlight some of the recent technological advances and their impact on the utilization of ECMO in increasingly diverse patient populations.
Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine 08/2012; 6(4):377-84.
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ABSTRACT: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a bridge to lung transplantation has traditionally been associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. A major contributor to these complications may be weakness and overall deconditioning secondary to pretransplant critical illness and immobility. In an attempt to address this issue, we developed a collaborative program to allow for active rehabilitation and physical therapy for patients requiring life support with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation before lung transplantation.
An interdisciplinary team responded to an acute need to develop a mechanism for active rehabilitation and physical therapy for patients awaiting lung transplantation while being managed with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. We describe a series of three patients who benefited from this new approach.
A quaternary care pediatric intensive care unit in a children's hospital set within an 800-bed university academic hospital with an active lung transplantation program for adolescent and adult patients. PATIENTS, INTERVENTIONS, AND MAIN RESULTS: Three patients (ages 16, 20, and 24 yrs) with end-stage respiratory failure were rehabilitated while on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation awaiting lung transplantation. These patients were involved in active rehabilitation and physical therapy and, ultimately, were ambulatory on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation before successful transplantation. Following lung transplantation, the patients were liberated from mechanical ventilation, weaned to room air, transitioned out of the intensive care unit, and ambulatory less than 1 wk posttransplant.
A comprehensive, multidisciplinary system can be developed to safely allow for active rehabilitation, physical therapy, and ambulation of patients being managed with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Such programs may lead to a decreased threshold for the utilization of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation before transplant and have the potential to improve conditioning, decrease resource utilization, and lead to better outcomes in patients who require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation before lung transplantation.
Critical care medicine 07/2011; 39(12):2593-8. · 6.37 Impact Factor
