Abstract
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) use in acute respiratory failure is increasing. We aim to compare characteristics and outcomes of patients with prolonged (>= 21 days) veno-venous (VV) ECMO runs (pECMO), to patients with short (<21 days) VV ECMO runs (sECMO). The observational retrospective single-center study compared patients who received VV ECMO from January 2018 to June 2019 at Prince Mohamed Bin Abdulaziz Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Forty-three patients were supported with VV ECMO during the study period, of whom 37 are included as six patients were still receiving ECMO at time of data collection: 24 sECMO and 13 pECMO patients. Baseline characteristics and comorbidities were similar except pECMO patients were older and had a lower P/F ratio (61 [58-68] vs. 71[58-85.5], p = 0.05). Survival to hospital discharge (69% vs. 83%, p = 0.32; pECMO vs. sECMO) and 90 day survival (62% vs. 75%, p = 0.413; pECMO vs. sECMO) were similar among groups. At 1 year follow-up, all patients were still alive and independently functioning except for one patient in the pECMO group who required a walking aid related to trauma. In this single-center study, patients requiring pECMO had similar short- and long-term survival to those requiring sECMO duration.