Aggressive placement of distal limb perfusion catheter in venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Objective: The aim of this study is to review the impacts of aggressive placement of a distal perfusion catheter on the outcomes in patients supported with venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation via femoral cannulation.

Methods: Analysis was performed with 143 consecutive femoral venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation cannulation. Patients were divided into two groups: the early period (October 2010 to December 2012,  = 47) where placement of a distal perfusion catheter was attempted percutaneously but not surgically and the late period (January 2013 to November 2018,  = 96) in which placement of distal perfusion catheter was aggressively utilized both percutaneously and surgically.