Expanded extracorporeal membrane oxygenation bridge to heart and lung transplant candidate selection does not impact outcomes compared to traditional candidate selection criteria

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is used as a bridge to transplant (ECMO-BTT) in selected patients. The objective of this study was to determine whether 1-year post-transplant and post-ECMO survival are impacted by traditional compared to expanded selection criteria. We performed a retrospective study of patients >17 years who received ECMO as bridge to transplant (BTT) or bridge to transplant decision for lung or combined heart and lung transplantation at the Mayo Clinic Florida and Rochester. Institutional protocol excludes patients >55 years, maintained on steroids, unable to participate in physical therapy, with body mass index >30 or