The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 44, 247-252, Copyright © 1987 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation following repair of congenital diaphragmatic hernias
MR Langham Jr, TM Krummel, LJ Greenfield, DE Drucker, TF Tracy Jr, DG Mueller, A Napolitano, BV Kirkpatrick and AM Salzburg
From 1981 through 1986, 8 newborns with congenital diaphragmatic hernia
required herniorrhaphy in the first 8 hours of life. Extracorporeal
membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was employed in 7 after they met local criteria
predictive of 95% mortality. These criteria were an alveolar- postductal
arterial oxygen gradient greater than 600 mm Hg for 12 hours or hemodynamic
instability. Four of these 7 patients had unremitting hypoxemia after
herniorrhaphy (no "honeymoon" period), 3 of whom survived. One additional
patient died, producing a mortality of 29%. ECMO used for 68 to 241 hours
(mean, 163 hours) provided reliable oxygenation in all. Deaths resulted
from disseminated intravascular coagulation and bleeding, and bleeding and
pulmonary failure after ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus.
Complications occurred in 6 patients and included bleeding (3), hernia
recurrence (3), and air embolism (1). Follow-up ranging from 1 year to 6
years after discharge of the 5 survivors shows normal growth and
development in 4. The reported mortality without ECMO following congenital
diaphragmatic herniorrhaphy in the first 8 hours of life ranges between 60
and 80%. While bleeding may present problems, survival of newborns with
refractory hypoxemia after diaphragmatic repair has improved with ECMO.