Eligibility of cardiac arrest patients for extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation and their clinical characteristics: a retrospective two-centre study

Background and importanceSudden cardiac arrest has a high incidence and often leads to death. A treatment option that might improve the outcomes in refractory cardiac arrest is Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (ECPR).ObjectivesThis study investigates the number of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients eligible to ECPR and identifies clinical characteristics that may help to identify which patients benefit the most from ECPR.Design, settings and participantsA retrospective two-centre study was conducted in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. All IHCA and OHCA patients between 1 January 2017 and 1 January 2020 were screened for eligibility to ECPR. The primary outcome was the percentage of patients eligible to ECPR and patients treated with ECPR. The secondary outcome was the comparison of the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients eligible to ECPR treated with conventional Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CCPR) vs. those of patients treated with ECPR.Main resultsOut of 1246 included patients, 412 were IHCA patients and 834 were OHCA patients. Of the IHCA patients, 41 (10.0%) were eligible to ECPR, of whom 20 (48.8%) patients were actually treated with ECPR. Of the OHCA patients, 83 (9.6%) were eligible to ECPR, of whom 23 (27.7%) were actually treated with ECPR. In the group IHCA patients eligible to ECPR, no statistically significant difference in survival was found between patients treated with CCPR and patients treated with ECPR (hospital survival 19.0% vs. 15.0% respectively, 4.0% survival difference 95% confidence interval -21.3 to 28.7%). In the group OHCA patients eligible to ECPR, no statistically significant difference in-hospital survival was found between patients treated with CCPR and patients treated with ECPR (13.3% vs. 21.7% respectively, 8.4% survival difference 95% confidence interval -30.3 to 10.2%).ConclusionThis retrospective study shows that around 10% of cardiac arrest patients are eligible to ECPR. Less than half of these patients eligible to ECPR were actually treated with ECPR in both IHCA and OHCA.