The need for thoracic surgery in adult patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: a 16-year experience.

OBJECTIVES: Patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) are at risk from thoracic complications such as bleeding or pneumothorax, which may subsequently necessitate thoracic surgical intervention. We aimed to: 1) analyse the indication and nature of thoracic surgical intervention in these patients and 2) analyse the effect of a change in the ECMO circuit from roller pump to centrifugal pump on transfusion requirements pre and post thoracotomy. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a prospectively collected database of 569 adults put on ECMO between 1995 and 2011. Patients undergoing thoracotomy were identified and outcomes were statistically analysed. RESULTS: Forty thoracotomies were performed in 18 patients [61% male, median age 31 (14-56) years, one bilateral procedure]. The indications for ECMO included: pneumonia 14/18 (78%), trauma 2/18 (11%) and other 2/18 (11%). Median duration on ECMO was 13 (1-257) days and the time to initial thoracotomy was 10 (1-183) days. The indications for thoracotomy were: excessive bleeding post chest drain insertion (11/19, 58%), uncontrolled air leak (9/19, 47%) and pleural effusion (4/19, 21%). The primary operations were 12/19 (63%) evacuation of haemothorax, 3/19 (16%) lung repair, 2/19 (11%) diagnostic lung biopsy and 2/19 (11%) other. Ten patients needed a further 21 thoracotomies (3 lobectomies); average 2 (1-5) per patient. In total, 30/40 (75%) thoracotomies were performed for bleeding complication. The change from roller to centrifugal pump trended towards a reduction in mean transfusion requirements in these patients following thoracotomy (11.5 versus 4 units, p=0.14). The in-hospital mortality was 7/18 (39%) patients. There were no statistically significant predictors of poor outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The need for thoracotomy whilst on ECMO is 3.2% in this large series. Intervention may be complicated, thus, either ECMO specialists should have thoracic training or thoracic surgeons should be on-site. Potential mortality is high and, although not statistically significant, a difference in transfusion requirements was observed following the change of circuit.

Use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for bronchoscopic removal of a tracheal foreign body in a child.

BACKGROUND: Bronchoscopic removal of a foreign body is a common emergency procedure in paediatric otolaryngology. It is potentially life-threatening, as complete airway obstruction caused by the foreign body can lead to hypoxic cardiac arrest during the manipulation of the object. CASE REPORT: This paper presents a child who had aspirated a foreign body that could not be extracted conventionally via rigid bronchoscopy in the first instance. Subsequently, it was extracted at repeat bronchoscopy under controlled respiratory conditions maintained by an extracorporeal gas exchange circuit - extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, using a polypropylene hollow fibre oxygenator commonly employed in cardiac surgery (rather than a more expensive polymethyl pentene oxygenator commonly used in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). CONCLUSION: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use can be considered in exceptional cases of upper airway emergencies, even in resource-poor settings, and can avoid more hazardous thoracotomy and bronchotomy procedures.

Developmental outcome in newborn infants treated for acute respiratory failure with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: present experience.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the later health status of newborn infants who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for acute respiratory failure in the era after the UK ECMO trial. DESIGN: Prospective follow up study of newborn infants who received ECMO at a single centre between January 1997 and January 2001. SETTING: Departments of ECMO and Paediatric Intensive Care, University Hospitals of Leicester. PATIENTS: All babies who received ECMO within 14 days of birth. INTERVENTIONS: Neurodevelopment screening using the schedule for growing skills-II (SGS-II) assessment tool. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Survival at 12 months of age by disease and functional development at follow up. RESULTS: A total of 145 neonates received ECMO for treatment of respiratory failure. Of these, 108 (75%) were alive at 1 year of age. There were no deaths in children treated for respiratory failure secondary to meconium aspiration syndrome (73/145). Ninety three (86% of survivors) infants attended a follow up visit at 11-19 months postnatal age. Eighty two were classed as normal, seven as having "impairment", and four as having "severe disability". CONCLUSIONS: Most newborn infants with acute respiratory failure treated with ECMO will have a normal neurodevelopment screening assessment at 11-19 months of postnatal age. There is no evidence to suggest that changes in neonatal practice since the UK ECMO trial have led to changes in outcome of infants undergoing ECMO therapy.

The effect of propranolol on the cerebral electrical response to deep hypothermia and total circulatory arrest in lambs.

Deep hypothermia with total circulatory arrest is an important technique in the surgical treatment of complex congenital heart defects. The effects of propranolol on cerebral electrical activity in lambs undergoing a 90-minute period of circulatory arrest after initial surface cooling to 26 degrees C and subsequent core cooling to 15 degrees C was studied by means of the cerebral function analyzing monitor. Five of the lambs were pretreated with intravenous propranolol 0.2 mg/kg (group I) and five acted as controls (group II). The surface cooling phase was associated with a continuous decrease in mean electroencephalographic voltage +/- standard error, which decreased from 82.8 +/- 11.8 microV at 37 degrees C to 31.6 +/- 2.4 microV at 26 degrees C in the control group compared with 75.0 +/- 7.4 microV and 63.2 +/- 9.2, respectively, in the propranolol group (p less than 0.05). During the rewarming phase, the latency to (1) initial appearance of electrical activity, (2) continuous recording with the cerebral function analyzing monitor, and (3) maximum voltage and frequency recovery was 2.0 +/- 1, 5.9 +/- 4, and 32.4 +/- 8 minutes in the propranolol group, which was significantly (p less than or equal to 0.01) shorter than in the control group (18.4 +/- 3, 38.2 +/- 5, and 111.0 +/- 9 minutes, respectively). These results suggest that pretreatment with propranolol may play an important part in the brain tolerance to deep hypothermia and circulatory arrest.

Childhood pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation with total cardiopulmonary support during bronchopulmonary lavage.

Partial cardiopulmonary bypass with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to allow bilateral bronchopulmonary lavage in pulmonary alveolar proteinosis has been described. However, this technique is complicated by a very low arterial PO2 and cardiovascular embarrassment. Total cardiopulmonary support avoids these problems and was successfully used in a 2 1/2-year-old girl.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for adult respiratory failure.

OBJECTIVES: To review the first 50 patients to receive extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for respiratory failure at Glenfield Hospital, and to compare them with published series of patients receiving positive pressure ventilation. DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. SETTING: Extracorporeal Life Support Organization/European Extracorporeal Life Support Organization recognized ECMO center. PATIENTS: Fifty consecutive patients referred for ECMO with respiratory failure refractory to conventional management between 1989 and 1995. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Primary end point was survival to hospital discharge, 66%. Other data (mean and SD): Murray Lung Injury Score, 3.4 (0.5); ratio of PaO2 to fraction of inspired oxygen, 65 (36.9) mm Hg; duration of ventilation pre-ECMO, 76.5 (83.7 h); peak airway pressure, 39.6 (7.4) cm H2O; end-expiratory pressure, 10 (3.3) cm H2O; minute ventilation, 12.6 (3.32) L/min; age, 30.1 (10.8) years; duration of ECMO, 207.4 (177.8) h; and units of blood transfused, 19 (17.3). Survival was significantly better than two previously reported series of patients receiving positive pressure ventilation (55.6% and 42% survival), p=0.036 and p=0.0006. Odds ratio for improved survival was 0.46 (95% confidence interval, 0.22 to 0.97, p=0.036). CONCLUSIONS: Survival with ECMO is 66% for adults with severe respiratory failure. ECMO should be considered in patients who remain hypoxic despite maximal positive pressure ventilation.

Sympathoadrenal function during cardiac operations in infants with the technique of surface cooling, limited cardiopulmonary bypass, and circulatory arrest.

The sympathoadrenal response to surface cooling, limited cardiopulmonary bypass, and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest was investigated in 22 infants undergoing correction of congenital heart defects. Surface cooling to 26 degrees C was associated with a significant rise in plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine levels. Both levels fell during the period of core cooling on bypass, presumably because of hemodilution. Following the period of circulatory arrest there was a rise in both catecholamine levels that correlated nonlinearly with the duration of circulatory arrest. The catecholamine levels remained high after rewarming until the chest was closed. The results suggest that this type of surgical procedure produces severe sympathoadrenal stress. The extremely high values found in the postarrest period in some patients, who had had a long period of arrest (greater than 40 minutes), may indicate hypoxic stress. The biological effect of high circulating plasma catecholamines during hypothermia is difficult to assess. The heart rate response to plasma catecholamine levels tended to diminish on cooling in our patients.

The dynamic properties of tissue oxygen in healing flaps.

Oxygen delivery to random pattern and musculocutaneous flaps was investigated in a canine model. Oxygen tension was measured in the proximal and distal portions of each flap and in adjacent normal skin by means of a recently developed technique. The effect of delay techniques on tissue oxygen tension was also examined with modifications of the same flap model. All measurements were made over a range of inspired oxygen concentrations (21% to 100%) both before operation and at intervals up to 15 days after operation. Tissue oxygen tensions were significantly higher in the musculocutaneous flaps than in random pattern flaps up to 6 days after operation. They were higher in the proximal portions than in the distal portions in each flap type. This difference was greater in the random pattern flap. Delay techniques prevented the early dramatic decrease in postoperative oxygen tension seen in random pattern flaps. Differences in the pattern of oxygen delivery to random pattern and musculocutaneous flaps may in part explain the greater reliability of musculocutaneous flaps when transposed in the presence of infection.

The effect of alpha-adrenergic blockade on cardiac performance and tissue oxygen delivery during excision of pheochromocytoma.

To establish criteria for administration of the optimal dose of alpha-adrenergic receptor blocking drugs, we studied cardiac performance and tissue oxygen tension in three patients who underwent excision of pheochromocytoma. Subcutaneous oxygen tension was measured by the method of Niinikoski and Hunt. Cardiac function was assessed by thermodilution cardiac output, systemic and pulmonary arterial blood pressures, and continuous two-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography of a cross section of the left ventricle at the level of the papillary muscles. Despite large changes in cardiac output and systemic, pulmonary, and wedge pressures, intraoperative tissue oxygen tensions and ejection fractions remained normal (even at times of peak catecholamine excretion and very abnormal wedge pressures). Studies of healthy animals that received no alpha-adrenergic receptor blocking drugs showed major decrements of tissue oxygen in response to modest doses of epinephrine. We conclude that progressive administration of alpha-adrenergic receptor blocking drugs does not absolutely protect the patient from major changes in blood pressure during operation for pheochromocytoma, but that cardiac performance and oxygen supply to the tissues are unimpaired.

Floating thrombus in the aorta.

A review of the literature shows that there are few reported cases of embolism or thrombus in a nonaneurysmal, effectively normal aorta with no other underlying reason for thrombus formation in the aorta. We report a case of a large, floating thrombus in the descending aorta lumen and discuss surgical and management options.

Anatomic correction of double-outlet right ventricle with subpulmonary ventricular septal defect (the "Taussig-Bing" anomaly).

Seven patients with double-outlet right ventricle and subpulmonary ventricular septal defect (the Taussig-Bing anomaly) underwent anatomical repair at the arterial level with transfer of the coronary arteries. At the time of operation, patient ages ranged from 6 weeks to 33 months (mean 14.1 months) and weight ranged from 3.7 to 11.5 kg (mean 7.0 kg). Four patients had prior pulmonary artery banding: Two of these four also had coarctation repairs, and one had a Blalock-Hanlon septectomy. Three different patterns of coronary artery distribution were encountered. Five patients had side-to-side great arteries, and two had more or less anteroposterior great arterial relationships. There was one operative death (14.3%: 70% confidence limits 1.9 - 40.7%) resulting from muscular subvalvular right ventricular outflow tract obstruction (RVOTO). There have been no late deaths in the six survivors followed 6 to 31 months postoperatively (mean 14.8 months). One patient required closure of a residual ventricular septal defect (VSD) and infundibular resection for RVOTO 4 months postoperatively. All other survivors are functionally NYHA Class I. Five of the six survivors have undergone postoperative catheterization (mean interval 5.8 months). There was no aortic insufficiency and good ventricular function in all patients. In addition to the patient with the residual VSD, two other asymptomatic patients had mild or moderate RVOTO. Compared with alternative surgical procedures for this anomaly, anatomic correction has the advantages of acceptable operative mortality, use of the left ventricle as the systemic ventricle, no need for extracardiac conduits, and applicability to patients with all variations of coronary artery and great artery anatomy.

Sleeve lobectomy (lobectomy and bronchoplasty) for bronchial carcinoma.

We present a series of 90 patients who underwent sleeve lobectomy for malignant bronchial tumors at the Brompton Hospital, London, between 1964 and 1974. The operative mortality was low (1%), and technical complications were infrequent. Bronchial stenosis, which occurred in 6% of patients, was due to recurrence of tumor in 4% and cicatrization in 2%. The majority of patients had squamous cell carcinomas of the upper lobe (76/90). In this group, the 5-year survival was 71% when the hilar lymph nodes were clear of tumor at the time of operation and 17% when the hilar lymph nodes were involved. Because these 5-year survival figures suggest that tumor-free survival is not significantly compromised by this conservative approach, we believe that sleeve lobectomy rather than pneumonectomy should be considered the operation of choice for squamous cell carcinomas of the upper lobe orifice involving the main bronchus.

Modifying a venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation circuit to reduce recirculation.

Lung rest is the primary goal of venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for severe acute respiratory failure. To achieve this there has to be adequate extracorporeal flow. This can be achieved by a two-cannula technique in most cases. In some cases, extra flow is either not achievable or causes excessive recirculation. We report 8 patients in whom we achieved adequate blood and oxygen delivery using a three-cannula technique. Five patients survived (62.5%).

Cannulation of neonates for venovenous extracorporeal life support.

Venovenous access via a double-lumen cannula in the right internal jugular vein is the extracorporeal life support mode of choice for neonates with respiratory failure. We report a simplified method of cannulation. The advantages of this "semi-Seldinger" method include the ability to cannulate without ligating the internal jugular vein, and to adjust the position of the cannula and decannulate without re-exploring the wound.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for the treatment of massive pulmonary embolism.

After witnessing the death of a patient following pulmonary embolectomy, John H. Gibbon, Jr, developed the idea of a device for extracorporeal oxygenation and circulation. What followed has led to the present-day method of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as an effective method of cardiorespiratory support. In this case of massive acute pulmonary embolism, its use in a conscious patient completes the circle from the first ideas of Gibbon.

Bronchopulmonary infection with Moraxella catarrhalis in infants requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Moraxella (formerly Branhamella) catarrhalis is now a well-recognized pathogen of the upper and lower respiratory tract. Four pediatric cases of life-threatening pneumonia requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation are presented. M. Catarrhalis was isolated within 48 hours of admission in three of the cases and within 24 hours of an acute deterioration in the fourth. We conclude that M. catarrhalis is either a significant pathogen in its own right, a marker of severe disease, or a secondary invader.

Continuous direct tissue oxygen tension measurement by a new method using an implantable silastic tonometer and oxygen polarography.

A new method of tissue oxygen tension measurement that is suitable for human use has been described. An implanted Silastic tube tonometer is combined with polarographic oxygen electrodes. The techniques of preparation, insertion, and measurement have been described. The advantages and disadvantages of this method have been considered in relation to established methods of tissue oxygen tension measurement. The method is suitable for clinical use and can be used to aid clinical decision-making.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for cardiac support.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) uses cardiopulmonary bypass technology to provide prolonged cardiac or respiratory support in the intensive care unit. The use of ECMO for neonatal respiratory failure is now good evidence-based medicine following publication of the UK Collaborative ECMO Trial, but its use in adults and children remains controversial. In this review the use of ECMO to support paediatric patients with pre- and post-operative cardiac insufficiency is discussed. The survival with ECMO in these patients is 43-61%, which is remarkable in a group of patients who are moribund prior to initiation of ECMO.

A rare anomaly of the aortic arch complex.

A six-month-old girl presented with heart failure. Cardiac catheterisation showed a ventricular septal defect and an anomaly of the aortic arch complex, which is a challenge to embryologic theory.