A Pilot Study Identifying Brain-Targeting Adaptive Immunity in Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Patients With Acquired Brain Injury.

Objectives: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation provides short-term cardiopulmonary life support, but is associated with peripheral innate inflammation, disruptions in cerebral autoregulation, and acquired brain injury. We tested the hypothesis that extracorporeal membrane oxygenation also induces CNS-directed adaptive immune responses which may exacerbate extracorporeal membrane oxygenation-associated brain injury.

Design: A single center prospective observational study.