Regional extracorporeal membrane oxygenation retrieval service during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic: an interdisciplinary team approach to maintain service provision despite increased demand.

OBJECTIVES: Coronavirus disease 2019 is a new contagious disease that has spread rapidly across the world. It is associated with high mortality in those who develop respiratory complications and require admission to intensive care. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a supportive therapy option for selected severely ill patients who deteriorate despite the best supportive care. During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, extra demand led to staff reorganization; hence, cardiac surgery consultants joined the ECMO retrieval team. This article describes how we increased service provisions to adapt to the changes in activity and staffing. METHODS: The data were collected from 16 March 2020 to 8 May 2020. The patients were referred through a dedicated Web-based referral portal to cope with increasing demand. The retrieval team attended the referring hospital, reviewed the patients and made the final decision to proceed with ECMO. RESULTS: We reported 41 ECMO retrieval runs during this study period. Apart from staffing changes, other retrieval protocols were maintained. The preferred cannulation method for veno-venous ECMO was drainage via the femoral vein and return to the right internal jugular vein. There were no complications reported during cannulation or transport. CONCLUSIONS: Staff reorganization in a crisis is of paramount importance. For those with precise transferrable skills, experience can be gained quickly with appropriate supervision. Therefore, the team members were selected based on skill mix rather than on roles that are more traditional. We have demonstrated that an ECMO retrieval service can be reorganized swiftly and successfully to cope with the sudden increase in demand by spending cardiac surgeons services to supplement the anaesthetic-intensivist roles.

Mini-Stern Trial: A randomized trial comparing mini-sternotomy to full median sternotomy for aortic valve replacement.

OBJECTIVE: Aortic valve replacement (AVR) can be performed either through full median sternotomy (FS) or upper mini-sternotomy (MS). The Mini-Stern trial aimed to establish whether MS leads to quicker postoperative recovery and shorter hospital stay after first-time isolated AVR. METHODS: This pragmatic, open-label, parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT) compared MS with FS for first-time isolated AVR in 2 United Kingdom National Health Service hospitals. Primary endpoints were duration of postoperative hospital stay and the time to fitness for discharge from hospital after AVR, analyzed in the intent-to-treat population. RESULTS: In this RCT, 222 patients were recruited and randomized (n = 118 in the MS group; n = 104 in the FS group). Compared with the FS group, the MS group had a longer hospital length of stay (mean, 9.5 days vs 8.6 days) and took longer to achieve fitness for discharge home (mean, 8.5 days vs 7.5 days). Adjusting for valve type, sex, and surgeon, hazard ratios (HRs) from Cox models did not show a statistically significant effect of MS (relative to FS) on either hospital stay (HR, 0.874; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.668-1.143; P = .3246) or time to fitness for discharge (HR, 0.907; 95% CI, 0.688-1.197; P value = .4914). During a mean follow-up of 760 days (745 days for the MS group and 777 days for the FS group), 12 patients (10%) in the MS group and 7 patients (7%) in the FS group died (HR, 1.871; 95% CI, 0.723-4.844; P = .1966). Average extra cost for MS was £1714 during the first 12 months after AVR. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with FS for AVR, MS did not result in shorter hospital stay, faster recovery, or improved survival and was not cost-effective. The MS approach is not superior to FS for performing AVR.

Functional assessment and transplantation of the donor heart after circulatory death.

BACKGROUND: After a severe shortage of brain-dead donors, the demand for heart transplantation has never been greater. In an attempt to increase organ supply, abdominal and lung transplant programs have turned to the donation after circulatory-determined death (DCD) donor. However, because heart function cannot be assessed after circulatory death, DCD heart transplantation was deemed high risk and never adopted routinely. We report a novel method of functional assessment of the DCD heart resulting in a successful clinical program. METHODS: Normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) was used to restore function to the arrested DCD heart within the donor after exclusion of the cerebral circulation. After weaning from support, DCD hearts underwent functional assessment with cardiac-output studies, echocardiography, and pressure-volume loops. In the feasibility phase, hearts were transported perfused before evaluation of function in modified working mode extracorporeally. After the establishment of a reliable assessment technique, hearts with demonstrable good function were then selected for clinical transplantation. RESULTS: NRP was instituted in 13 adult DCD donors, median age of 33 years (interquartile range [IQR], 28-38 years), after a median ischemic time from withdrawal to perfusion of 24 minutes (IQR, 21-29; range, 17-146 minutes). Two of 4 hearts in the feasibility phase were unsuitable for transplantation after functional assessment. Nine DCD hearts were transplanted in the clinical phase, with 100% survival. The median intensive care duration was 5 days (IQR, 4-5 days), with 2 patients requiring mechanical support. There were no episodes of rejection (total, 1,436 patient-days; range, 48-297). During the same period, we performed 20 standard heart transplants using brain-dead donors. CONCLUSIONS: NRP allows rapid reperfusion and functional assessment of the DCD donor heart, ensuring only viable hearts are selected for transplantation. This technique minimizes the risk of primary graft dysfunction and maximizes confidence in DCD heart transplantation, realizing a 45% increase in our heart transplant activity.