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Ann Thorac Surg 2004;78:1230-1235
© 2004 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
a Heart and Lung Transplant Unit, The Alfred Hospital, Monash University Medical School, Melbourne, Australia
Accepted for publication March 31, 2004.
* Address reprint requests to Dr Oto, Heart and Lung Transplant Unit, The Alfred Hospital, Commercial Rd, Melbourne 3004, VIC, Australia
takahirooto{at}aol.com
| Abstract |
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METHODS: We reviewed the use of ECMO for severe PGF after lung transplantation, and compared the outcomes between our early (1990 to 1999) and recent (2000 to 2003) experience utilizing improved initiation timing, oxygenator technology, and surgical technique.
RESULTS: Ten transplant recipients from a total of 481 (2.1%) were managed for PGF on ECMO by a multidisciplinary team at The Alfred Hospital. Four single-lung, 3 bilateral single-lung, and 3 heart-lung recipients were supported for a mean of 96 hours (range 14 to 212 hours). In the early group (operation from 1990 to 1999, n = 4) ECMO was initiated 21 days (range 7 to 40 days) after lung transplantation and in the recent group (operation from 2000 to 2003, n = 6) after 0 to 2 days (p = 0.01). Radial-arterial blood gas analysis 12 hours after initiation of ECMO showed significantly better oxygenation in the recent group (341 ± 90 mm Hg) than in the early group (90 ± 23 mm Hg, p = 0.03). Four deaths occurred as a result of bleeding (two in each group). In the early group only 1 patient was weaned from ECMO but died. In the recent group 3 were successfully weaned and were discharged from the intensive care unit; of these patients, 2 were discharged from hospital.
CONCLUSIONS: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation results have improved with advances in oxygenator technology and surgical techniques. The procedure can allow resolution of early PGF after lung transplantation.
| Introduction |
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However, in recent years understanding of early and late graft failure has improved [1] and new materials and techniques for ECMO have been developed that may improve the efficacy of ECMO in the adult population [6]. The heparin-bonded hollow-fiber membrane oxygenator has superseded the silicone membrane oxygenator [7] and central cannulation has been shown to improve total body oxygenation [3]. In this context we reviewed our experience with the use of ECMO for severe PGF after LTx, and compared the outcomes between our early and recent experience.
| Patients and Methods |
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Algorithm for Pulmonary Graft Failure After Lung Transplantation
With the start of the ECMO program at The Alfred Hospital we defined a standardized treatment protocol to guide decision making. All patients with PGF were included in this standardized treatment protocol, which proceeded conventional therapy after evaluation for the cause of PGF (Fig 1). A transesophageal echocardiography was performed to exclude lung torsion and pulmonary vascular problems, and a retrospective crossmatch was performed to exclude humoral rejection. Conventional therapy was constituted with pressure-controlled mechanical ventilation, limitation of positive end-expiratory pressure to 12 to 15 cm H2O, negative fluid balance with furosemide or continuous venovenous hemofiltration, inhaled nitric oxide at a dosage of 5 to 20 ppm, and elevation of the upper body or lateral positioning if appropriate. As an additional therapy, differential ventilation was considered for unilateral persistent PGF. Only if conventional therapy failed was ECMO considered.
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2 analysis for categorical variables. Significance was defined as p less than 0.05. | Results |
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With the evolution of the techniques over time, for analysis we divided the patients into two groups: an early group (from March 1990 to December 1999) and a recent group (from January 2000 to September 2003) (Fig 2). The baseline characteristics of the donors including age, sex, and cause of death were similar between the two groups. No significant differences were noted between the early and the recent groups for duration of donor mechanical ventilatory support (43 ± 14 versus 49 ± 10 hours), donor PaO2 immediately before retrieval (551 ± 29 versus 512 ± 39 mm Hg), and the graft ischemic time (533 ± 57 versus 390 ± 61 minutes).
In the recent group, 4 patients were placed on ECMO on the day of LTx (day 0) and 1 patient each on day 1 and day 2, which was significantly sooner (0.5 ± 0.3 days) than in the early group (21 ± 8 days, p = 0.01) (Table 1). Recipient physiologic status 12 hours after initiation of ECMO support is shown in Table 2. Despite similar ECMO flow rates, radial-arterial blood gas analysis showed a significantly higher oxygenation in the recent group than in the early group (p = 0.03). Patients in both groups were well stabilized hemodynamically.
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Several complications were seen during ECMO support (Table 3). Four patients had bleeding requiring surgical exploration or multiple blood transfusions, and 1 of these also had sepsis. An ischemic limb was seen in 1 patient. These 5 patients all died. One patient required temporary hemofiltration due to acute renal failure.
| Comment |
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In the current study a higher incidence of ECMO support was seen after heart-lung (3/54, 5.6%) than single-lung (4/198, 2.0%) and bilateral single-lung transplantation (3/229, 1.3%). The patients with PH often had secondary cardiac disease and required heart-lung transplantation or bilateral single-lung transplantation with cardiopulmonary bypass. All the patients with PH could not be weaned from ECMO. Pulmonary hypertension seemed to be a predictor for poor outcome with the use of ECMO.
The most common indication of ECMO support after LTx is for reversible PGF; a less common indication is as a bridge to retransplantation due to irreversible PGF. Early PGF has been considered reversible and usually recovers in less than 7 days [3, 4]. Multiple factors may contribute to early PGF including prolonged ischemic time, ischemia-reperfusion injury, prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass use, massive blood transfusion, and poor quality of the donor lung itself [1, 4, 5]. In contrast, late PGF may be secondary to infection or rejection and may be irreversible [4]. Identifying specific conditions that contribute to PGF is difficult. Furthermore, the transition from early to late PGF varies according to the author's definition. Some authors defined early PGF as less than 7 days [5] and others defined it as within 24 hours of LTx [4]. All survivors in these 2 reports were in the early PGF group, whereas no survivors were noted with late PGF beyond 7 days after LTx. The authors concluded that early PGF was reversible and patients would recover while on temporary ECMO support. In our study, patients were placed on ECMO sooner in the recent group (0.5 ± 0.3 days) than the early group (21 ± 8 days, p = 0.01), and all 3 survivors in this study were in the recent group.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation technologyincluding materials and surgical techniqueshas improved markedly in the last decade. Venoarterial cannulation is currently the preferred mode of ECMO support at our institution. Femoral cannulation has the advantage of easy institution at the bedside in the ICU, avoiding transport to the operating theater. Femoral cannulation may provide particular advantages after single-lung transplantation, especially after left single-lung transplantation, because it obviates the need for sternotomy, which is required for central cannulation. However, femoral cannulation has some potential disadvantages. The smaller size of the femoral vessels may lead to vascular complications in the lower limb, also the likelihood exists of the lower half of the body receiving well-oxygenated blood supply while the upper half of the body receives the poorly oxygenated blood leaving the lungs [10]. In such cases we also cannulate the distal femoral artery to perfuse the distal lower limb, to prevent lower limb complications. However, in our study, low radial-arterial PaO2 (less than 90 mm Hg) was seen in 1 patient even 12 hours after femoral venoarterial ECMO initiation; the patient died of MOF. This case encouraged us to use the central cannulation in the 2 most recent cases to avoid this problem. Central cannulation might be suitable after bilateral single-lung transplantation, especially for a smaller recipient.
Bleeding during ECMO support is often difficult to control; however, the use of a heparin-bonded hollow-fiber membrane oxygenator enabled us to reduce the amount of heparin administered. The activated clotting time in the recent group was significantly shorter than that of the early group (p = 0.04). Although the incidence of bleeding decreased from 50% (2/4) in the early group to 32% (2/6) in the recent group, the 4 patients with bleeding still had fatal outcomes.
Plasma leakage from the oxygenator is one of the disadvantages of the older type of hollow-fiber oxygenators [7]. Nevertheless, although 4 patients had plasma leakage requiring oxygenator changeover, 3 of the 4 were successfully weaned from ECMO. Plasma leakage itself seemed not to increase the mortality rate and we believe this complication is avoidable by using the new solid-type hollow-fiber membrane oxygenator (Quadrox).
In the early group, 3 of 4 patients died of MOF; 2 of the 3 had not been satisfactorily oxygenated systemically, as detected by radial-arterial blood gas analysis (PaO2 < 70 mm Hg) even 12 hours after ECMO initiation. In contrast, 5 of 6 patients in the recent group were oxygenated satisfactorily (PaO2 < 90 mm Hg). Therefore in the recent group ECMO seemed to provide more even systemic oxygenation than the early group. Possible explanations for the poor oxygenation in the early group include the following: (1) For peripheral venovenous ECMO, reverse gas exchange may have occurred in the transplanted lungs or oxygenated blood may have been recirculated by the high-flow ECMO circuit. (2) For peripheral venoarterial ECMO, the radial artery may have been supplied with deoxygenated blood from the heart when the patient had sufficient cardiac output to overcome ECMO flow, leading to an oxygenation discrepancy between the upper and the lower half of the body.
Although 3 of 6 patients in the recent group died during ECMO support, ECMO succeeded in stabilizing 2 of the 3 patients during support. One of those 2 patients was withdrawn from satisfactory ECMO due to hypoxic brain death that might have been caused by resuscitation efforts before ECMO initiation.
Due to small numbers in our series, we have not been able to identify significant predictors of outcomes; however, recent progress in ECMO technology seemed to lead to better cardiopulmonary temporary support with a lesser incidence of fatal complications and better outcomes in the more contemporary phase of our experience. Recently these results have encouraged us to use ECMO for various indications. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation has been used after lung transplantation in 12 cases, after heart transplantation in 8 cases, after pulmonary failure (not transplant) in 20 cases, and after cardiac failure (not transplant) in 11 cases; 53% of the total were successful. The average number of ECMOs in the decade before 2000 was 2.3 per year, whereas the actual number of ECMOs in 2002 was 9 and in 2003 was 10. Use of ECMO in our institution has been increasing during the last 4 years. In our institution ECMO technology is readily available as a feature of our program of heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. We believe the increased use of ECMO is cost effective.
| Conclusion |
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| Acknowledgments |
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| References |
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