Mechanical Circulatory Support in Cardiogenic Shock Following an Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Systematic Review

Impact of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation on neurological outcomes in patients undergoing veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

BACKGROUND

Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-A ECMO) requires a large amount of economic and human resources. The presence of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was focused on selecting appropriate V-A ECMO candidates.

RESULT

This study retrospectively enrolled 39 patients with V-A ECMO due to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (CA) between January 2010 and March 2019. The introduction criteria of V-A ECMO included the following: (1) < 75 years old, (2) CA on arrival, (3) < 40 min from CA to hospital arrival, (4) shockable rhythm, and (5) good activity of daily living (ADL). The prescribed introduction criteria were not met by 14 patients, but they were introduced to V-A ECMO at the discretion of their attending physicians and were also included in the analysis. Neurological prognosis at discharge was defined using The Glasgow-Pittsburgh Cerebral Performance and Overall Performance Categories of Brain Function (CPC). Patients were divided into good or poor neurological prognosis (CPC ≤ 2 or ≥ 3) groups (8 vs. 31 patients). The good prognosis group had a significantly larger number of patients who received bystander CPR (p = 0.04). The mean CPC at discharge was compared based on the combination with the presence of bystander CPR and all five original criteria. Patients who received bystander CPR and met all original five criteria showed significantly better CPC than patients who did not receive bystander CPR and did not meet some of the original five criteria (p = 0.046).

CONCLUSION

Considering the presence of bystander CPR help in selecting the appropriate candidate of V-A ECMO among out-of-hospital CA cases.

Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) for emergency cardiac support

PURPOSE

Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) may provide benefit to patients in refractory cardiac arrest and cardiogenic shock. We aim to summarize our center's 6-year experience with resuscitative VA-ECMO.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective medical record review (April 2009 to 2015) was performed on consecutive non-cardiotomy patients who were managed with VA-ECMO due to refractory in- or out-of-hospital cardiac (IHCA/OHCA) arrest (E-CPR) or refractory cardiogenic shock (E-CS) with or without preceding cardiac arrest. Our primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge and good neurological status (Cerebral Performance Category 1-2).

RESULTS

There were a total of 22 patients who met inclusion criteria of whom 9 received E-CPR (8 IHCA, 1 OHCA) and 13 received E-CS. The median age for E-CPR patients was 52 [IQR 45, 58] years, and 54 [IQR 38, 64] years for E-CS patients. Cardiac arrest duration was 70.33 (SD 39.56) min for the E-CPR patients, and 24.67 (SD 26.73) min for the 9 patients treated with E-CS who had previously arrested. Initial cardiac arrest rhythms were pulseless electrical activity (39%), ventricular fibrillation (33%), or ventricular tachycardia (28%). A total of 18/22 patients were successfully weaned from VA-ECMO (78%); 16 patients survived to hospital discharge (73%) with 15 in good neurological condition.

CONCLUSION

The initiation of VA-ECMO at our center for treatment of refractory cardiac arrest and cardiogenic shock yielded a high proportion of survivors and favorable neurological outcomes.

Patient with a total artificial heart maintained on outpatient dialysis while listed for combined organ transplant, a single center experience

Advanced mechanical circulatory support is increasingly being used with more sophisticated devices that can deliver pulsatile rather than continuous flow. These devices are more portable as well, allowing patients to await cardiac transplantation in an outpatient setting. It is known that patients with renal failure are at increased risk for developing worsening acute kidney injury during implantation of a ventricular assist device (VAD) or more advanced modalities like a total artificial heart (TAH). Dealing with patients who have an implanted TAH who develop renal failure has been a challenge with the majority of such patients having to await a combined cardiac and renal transplant prior to transition to outpatient care. Protocols do exist for VAD implanted patients to be transitioned to outpatient dialysis care, but there are no reported cases of TAH patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) being successfully transitioned to outpatient dialysis care. In this report, we identify a patient with a TAH and ESRD transitioned successfully to outpatient hemodialysis and maintained for more than 2 years, though he did not survive to transplant. It is hoped that this report will raise awareness of this possibility, and assist in the development of protocols for similar patients to be successfully transitioned to outpatient dialysis care.

Moving Beyond SHOCK: New Paradigms in the Management of Acute Myocardial Infarction Complicated by Cardiogenic Shock

The current management of patients with acute myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock (AMI-CS) is associated with a high rate of mortality, despite widespread regional implementation of rapid transfer to percutaneous coronary intervention-capable centres for prompt infarct-related artery reperfusion. The limited clinical effectiveness of early revascularization in patients with AMI-CS might be secondary to the extent of coronary artery disease in these patients and the risk of incomplete revascularization, as well as the lower probability of achieving successful reperfusion compared with acute myocardial infarction without hemodynamic instability. Also, the severity of end-organ injury is a critical determinant of outcome. We review adjunctive therapies to early revascularization in AMI-CS, specifically with a focus on the role of short-term mechanical circulatory support. In selected patients with AMI-CS, there might be a benefit associated with early institution of mechanical circulatory support before revascularization.