Extracorporeal life support for support of children with malignancy and respiratory or cardiac failure: The extracorporeal life support experience.

Background: Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is a means of respiratory and hemodynamic support for patients failing conventional therapies. Children with cancer who develop complications during therapy may require ECLS.

Methods: The extracorporeal life support organization (ELSO) registry was queried for all patients younger than 21 years with an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnosis of neoplasm.