Neurological complications associated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy in adult patients. A study of a case series

Introduction. ECMO is an advanced technique of ventilatory and circulatory support. However, it can be associated with neurological complications. The proposal is to describe the clinical characteristics and neurological complications profile in patients under ECMO support. Patients and methods. To descriptive a case series study. A descriptive and retrospective analysis and a bivariate analysis were performed in order to compare the main clinical variables of interest. Results. 136 adults undergoing ECMO with an average age of 51 years (17-78) were evaluated. Neurological complications were observed in 51 patients (37.5%), corresponding to stroke 22 (16.17%), hypoxic encephalopathy 13 (9.5 %), cerebral hemorrhage (HIC) in 12 (8.8%) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (HSA) in 4 patients (2.9%). Seven (13.7%) of patients with neurological complications had seizures. Neurological complications occurred in 23.53% in venovenous ECMO and in 76.47% with veno-arterial ECMO (p = 0.86). The overall mortality was 51.47% (70/136) for all patients in ECMO and 64.7% (33/51) for the population with neurological complications. The mortality in stroke was 54.5% (12/22), 91.6% (11/12) in HIC and 100% (4) in HSA (p = 0.03). Mortality was higher in veno-arterial ECMO (77.14%) versus venous-venous ECMO (22.86% of total), (p = 0.015). Conclusions. ECMO is a useful therapeutic tool in cases of high clinical severity. In our study, we identified a high rate of neurological complications that contribute to associated morbidity and mortality. Early neuroimaging studies in these cases could allow early detection of these complications.