The value of clinical scores in predicting mortality of adult patients on veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) is increasingly used for refractory cardiogenic shock and is still associated with frequent morbidities and high mortality. Many risk scores have been used to stratify the patients for rapid decision making. The recent studies using the risk scores during VA-ECMO support were reviewed and the conflicting results were addressed. The Survival After VA-ECMO (SAVE), modified SAVE, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), Simplified Acute Physiology score II (SAPS II), REMEMBER, ENCOURAGE scores were used in retrospective studies without validation prospective studies. The risk scores used in evaluation of adult patients with VA-ECMO support for refractory cardiogenic shock help in clinical judgment but should not affect decision making for withdrawal of support.