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Review
. 2020 Jun 6;24(1):301.
doi: 10.1186/s13054-020-02979-3.

ECMO use in COVID-19: lessons from past respiratory virus outbreaks-a narrative review

Hwa Jin Cho  1   2 , Silver Heinsar  3 , In Seok Jeong  4 , Kiran Shekar  3   5 , Gianluigi Li Bassi  3   6 , Jae Seung Jung  3   7 , Jacky Y Suen  3 , John F Fraser  3   5
Affiliations
Review

ECMO use in COVID-19: lessons from past respiratory virus outbreaks-a narrative review

Hwa Jin Cho et al. Crit Care. .

Abstract

The spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to grow exponentially in most countries, posing an unprecedented burden on the healthcare sector and the world economy. Previous respiratory virus outbreaks, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), pandemic H1N1 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), have provided significant insights into preparation and provision of intensive care support including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Many patients have already been supported with ECMO during the current COVID-19 pandemic, and it is likely that many more may receive ECMO support, although, at this point, the role of ECMO in COVID-19-related cardiopulmonary failure is unclear. Here, we review the experience with the use of ECMO in the past respiratory virus outbreaks and discuss potential role for ECMO in COVID-19.

Keywords: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19); Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO); Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS); Pandemic H1N1; Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Geographical distribution in previous viral outbreaks with the name of viral outbreaks and onset year. The number of infected cases (coloured bar) and number of deaths (blank bar) with percentage of death are described under each map. The length of the bars represent the approximate ratio of infected cases to deaths. The geographic distribution in COVID-19 is not expressed in this figure since the numbers and countries are still changing. As of May 19, 2020, total infected numbers of cases are over 4,700,000 and over 310,000 (6.6%) died of COVID-19. SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome; MERS Middle East respiratory syndrome; COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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