Serum Galectin-3 Predicts Mortality in Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Patients.

Objective: We investigated the potential use of galectin-3 (Gal-3) as a prognostic indicator for patients with cardiogenic shock and developed a predictive mortality model for venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO).

Methods: We prospectively studied patients (survivors and nonsurvivors) who received VA-ECMO for cardiogenic shock from 2019 to 2021. We recorded baseline data, Gal-3, and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) before ECMO and 24-72 h after ECMO. We used multivariable logistic regression to analyze significant risk factors and construct a VA-ECMO death prediction model. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to assess the predictive efficacy of the model.

Results: We enrolled 73 patients with cardiogenic shock who received VA-ECMO support; 38 (52.05%) died in hospital. The median age was 57 years (interquartile range (IQR): 48-67 years); the median duration of ECMO therapy was 5.8 days (IQR: 4.62-7.57 days); and the median intensive care unit stay was 19.04 days (IQR: 13.92-26.15 days). Compared with the nonsurvivors, survivors had lower acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II scores ( < 0.001), increased left ventricular ejection fraction ( < 0.05), lower Gal-3 levels at 24 and 72 h (both  = 0.001), lower BNP levels at 24 and 72 h (both  = 0.001), and higher platelet counts ( = 0.009). Further multivariable analysis showed that APACHE II score, BNP-T72, and Gal-3-T72 were independent risk factors for death in VA-ECMO patients. Gal-3 and BNP were positively correlated ( < 0.05) and decreased significantly during ECMO treatment. The areas under the ROC curve (AUC) for APACHE II score, Gal-3-T72, and BNP-T72 were 0.687, 0.799, and 0.723, respectively. We constructed a combined prediction model with an AUC of 0.884 ( < 0.01).

Conclusion: Gal-3 may serve as a prognostic indicator for patients receiving VA-ECMO for cardiogenic shock. The combined early warning score is a simple and effective tool for predicting mortality in VA-ECMO patients.