Journal Article

High survival rate in 122 ARDS patients managed according to a clinical algorithm including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

Pappert, D., Frey, D. J. M., Gerlach, H., Rossaint, R., Weidemann, H., Hoffmann, O., Falke, K. J., Keske, U., Slama, K.-J., Lewandowski, K.

1997

Overview

We investigated whether a treatment according to a clinical algorithm could improve the low survival rates in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Uncontrolled prospective trial. One university hospital intensive care department. 122 patients with ARDS, consecutively admitted to the ICU. ARDS was treated according to a criteria-defined clinical algorithm. The algorithm distinguished two main treatment groups: The AT-sine-ECMO (advanced treatment without extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) groups (n = 73) received a treatment consisting of a set of advanced non-invasive treatment options, the ECMO treatment group (n = 49) received additional extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) using heparin-coated systems. The groups differed in both APACHE II (16 +/- 5 vs 18 +/- 5 points, p = 0.01) and Murray scores (3.2 +/- 0.3 vs 3.4 +/- 0.3 points, p = 0.0001), the duration of mechanical ventilation prior to admission (10 +/- 9 vs 13 +/- 9 days, p = 0.0151), and length of ICU stay in Berlin (31 +/- 17 vs 50 +/- 36 days, p = 0.0016). Initial PaO2/FIO2 was 86 +/- 27 mm Hg in AT-sine-ECMO patients that improved to 165 +/- 107 mm Hg on ICU day 1, while ECMO patients showed an initial PaO2/FIO2 of 67 +/- 28 mm Hg and improvement to 160 +/- 102 mm Hg was not reached until ICU day 13. QS/QT was significantly higher in the ECMO-treated group and exceeded 50% during the first 14 ICU days. The overall survival rate in our 122 ARDS patients was 75%. Survival rates were 89% in the AT-sine ECMO group and 55% in the ECMO treatment group (p = 0.0000). We conclude that patients with ARDS can be successfully treated with the clinical algorithm and high survival rates can be achieved.

• Publisher: Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Adult / Algorithms / Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy / Biological and medical sciences / Catheters / Cause of Death / Emergency and intensive respiratory care / Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation / Female / Germany - epidemiology / Health services / Heparin / Humans / Intensive care / Intensive care medicine / Male / Mechanical ventilation / Medical sciences / Membranes / Oxygenation / Patients / Prospective Studies / Research Design / Respiratory distress syndrome / Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult - etiology / Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult - mortality / Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult - therapy / Risk Factors / Statistics, Nonparametric / Survival / Survival Analysis / Ventilators