Background: The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the impact of venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA–ECMO) integrated hemoadsorption on the reversal of multiorgan and microcirculatory dysfunction, and early mortality of refractory cardiogenic shock patients. Methods: Propensity score–matched cohort study of 29 pairs of patients. Subjects received either VA–ECMO supplemented with hemoadsorption or standard VA–ECMO management. Results: There was a lower mean sequential organ failure assessment score (p = 0.04), lactate concentration (p = 0.015), P(v–a)CO2 gap (p < 0.001), vasoactive inotropic score (p = 0.007), and reduced delta C–reactive protein level (p = 0.005) in the hemoadsorption compared to control groups after 72 h. In–hospital mortality was similar to the predictions in the control group (62.1%) and was much lower than the predicted value in the hemoadsorption group (44.8%). There were less ECMO-associated bleeding complications in the hemoadsorption group compared to controls (p = 0.049). Overall, 90-day survival was better in the hemoadsorption group than in controls without statistical significance. Conclusion: VA–ECMO integrated hemoadsorption treatment was associated with accelerated recovery of multiorgan and microcirculatory dysfunction, mitigated inflammatory response, less bleeding complications, and lower risk for early mortality in comparison with controls.
Proper hemodynamic management is necessary among post-cardiac arrest patients to improve survival. We aimed to investigate the effects of PiCCO™-guided (pulse index contour cardiac output) hemodynamic management on mortality in post-resuscitation therapy. In this longitudinal analysis of 63 comatose patients after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation cooled to 32–34 °C, 33 patients received PiCCO™, and 30 were not monitored with PiCCO™. Primary and secondary outcomes were 30 day and 1 year mortality. Kaplan–Meier curves and log-rank tests were used to assess differences in mortality among the groups. Interaction effects to disentangle the relationship between patient’s condition, PiCCO™ application, and mortality were assessed by means of Chi-square tests and logistic regression models. A 30 day mortality was significantly higher among PiCCO™ patients, while 1 year mortality was marginally higher. More severe patient condition per se was not the cause of higher mortality rate in the PiCCO™ group. Patients in better health conditions (without ST-elevation myocardial infarction, without cardiogenic shock, without intra-aortic balloon pump device, or without stroke in prior history) had worse outcomes with PiCCO™-guided therapy. Catecholamine administration worsened both 30 day and 1 year mortality among all patients. Our analysis showed that there was a complex interaction relationship between PiCCO™-guided therapy, patients’ condition, and 30 day mortality for most conditions.