Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation versus invasive ventilation in patients with COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome and pneumomediastinum: A cohort trial.

Background: Patients with severe respiratory failure due to COVID-19 who are not under mechanical ventilation may develop severe hypoxemia when complicated with spontaneous pneumomediastinum (PM). These patients may be harmed by invasive ventilation. Alternatively, veno-venous (V-V) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) may be applied.