Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support for life-threatening acute severe status asthmaticus.

Introduction: Status asthmaticus is a life-threatening condition characterized by progressive respiratory failure due to asthma that is unresponsive to standard therapeutic measures. We used extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to treat patients with near-fatal status asthamticus who did not respond to aggressive medical therapies and mechanical ventilation under controlled permissive hypercapnia.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2011 and October 2015, we treated 16 adult patients with status asthmaticus (8 women, 8 men, mean age: 50.

Cellular cardiomyoplasty into infracted swine's hearts by retrograde infusion through the venous coronary sinus: An experimental study.

Objectives: The aim was to create a model of myocardial infarction with a borderline myocardial impairment which would enable evaluation of the retrograde cellular cardiomyoplasty through the venous coronary sinus in a large animal model.

Materials And Methods: Fifteen (study group) and 10 juvenile farm pigs (control group) underwent distal left anterior descending artery ligation. One month later the study group animals underwent sternotomy and a murine myoblastic line C2-C12 was injected at a constant pressure of 30mmHg, into the coronary sinus.

Mechanical Ventricular Assistance as Destination Therapy for End-Stage Heart Failure: Has it Become a First Line Therapy?

Unlabelled: Patients with end-stage heart failure have poor quality of life and prognosis. Therapeutic options are scarce and are not available for all. Only few patients can be transplanted every year.

A numerical model of blood oxygenation during veno-venous ECMO: analysis of the interplay between blood oxygenation and its delivery parameters.

Veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) is an important tool in the management of most severe forms of acute respiratory failure. The determinants and management of oxygen delivery in patients treated with VV-ECMO is a complex topic. The physiological principles of oxygenation on VV-ECMO are reviewed in many textbooks.

Inverted-Takotsubo cardiomyopathy: severe refractory heart failure in poly-trauma patients saved by emergency extracorporeal life support.

Objectives: The sequelae of severe poly-trauma may include myocardial dysfunction followed by acute heart failure and death. Inverted-Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (ITC) is a variant of stress cardiomyopathy, characterized by a contractile abnormality with extensive left ventricular circumferential dyskinesia or akinesia with a hyperkinetic apex. We report our experience with refractory cardiogenic shock and/or cardiac arrest, treated with extracorporeal life support.

Atypical clinic presentation of pandemic influenza A successfully rescued by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation - Our experience and review of the literature.

The novel pandemic influenza A (H1N1) caused an epidemic of critical illness, and some patients developed severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or severe cardiopulmonary failure despite the use of conventional management. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support may successfully rescue these severely ill patients. We demonstrate the causative role of H1N1 in refractory ARDS of a previously healthy 15-year-old man who presented to the intensive care unit with a hypoxic and persistent cardiogenic shock refractory to conventional management as the leading symptom of influenza A.

The actual role of cardiocirculatory assistance in heart-failure treatment as destination therapy and bridge to life.

Patients with end-stage heart failure have poor quality of life and a poor prognosis, and are usually burdened by symptoms at rest, need for frequent hospital admissions, complex pharmacologic therapies, and 1-year mortality rate of about 50%. Therapeutic options are scarce and not amenable to all. Only few patients can be transplanted.

A new formula for determining arterial oxygen saturation during venovenous extracorporeal oxygenation.

Purpose: Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) is used to treat severe forms of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). VV-ECMO management may be confusing due to the lack of information about the interplay between the determinant parameters and their impact on oxygenation. We found a relationship between arterial oxygen saturation (SaO(2)) and its relevant parameters.

Extracorporeal life support in patients with severe trauma: an advanced treatment strategy for refractory clinical settings.

Objectives: Major trauma is a leading cause of death, particularly among young patients. New strategies in management are needed to improve poor outcomes in cases of severe trauma. Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) has proven to be effective in acute cardiopulmonary failure of different causes, even when conventional therapies fail.

Cellular retrograde cardiomyoplasty and relaxin therapy for postischemic myocardial repair in a rat model.

We sought to determine whether skeletal myoblasts, wild-type or engineered to express relaxin, might improve myocardial viability and performance in a rat model of chronic myocardial infarction. Our purpose was to investigate a potential new therapy for heart failure. From October 2005 through September 2009, we surgically induced acute myocardial infarction in 80 male Wistar rats.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for refractory, life-threatening, and herpes simplex virus 1-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome. Our experience and literature review.

We report our first experience of treating an immunocompetent adult patient with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to type 1 herpes simplex (HSV1) pneumonitis, using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Similar cases reported in literature are reviewed as well. The therapeutic options for this particular complication are discussed.

A novel strategy to improve systemic oxygenation in venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: the "χ-configuration".

Background: Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) is used in refractory acute respiratory distress syndrome where lung recovery is the primary goal. For its achievement, adequate extracorporeal blood flow and a maximal separation between oxygenated (inflow) and deoxygenated (outflow) blood flow are essential for reducing the recirculation phenomenon. We introduce the χ-configuration, a new cannulation strategy for VV-ECMO.

Extracorporeal life support as ultimate strategy for refractory severe cardiogenic shock induced by Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy: a new effective therapeutic option.

We report a possible new therapeutic strategy, using extracorporeal cardiopulmonary support (ECLS), for severe refractory cardiogenic shock (SRCS) in a patient with Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TC). TC is a syndrome characterized by left ventricular wall motion abnormalities, without coronary artery disease, mimicking the diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome. This ventricular dysfunction can be reversible; however, it can progress into refractory cardiogenic shock with limited therapeutic options available.

Intractable cardiogenic shock in stress cardiomyopathy with left ventricular outflow tract obstruction: is extra-corporeal life support the best treatment?

We report the use of extra-corporeal cardiopulmonary support (ECLS), in a case of complicating refractory severe cardiogenic shock, in a patient with Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TC). Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy syndrome is characterized by left ventricular (LV) wall motion abnormalities, usually without coronary artery disease, mimicking the diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome. This ventricular dysfunction is typically reversible in the acute phase, though it can progress into refractory cardiogenic shock with limited therapeutic options available.