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Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) has been used as a rescue strategy for patients who do not respond to standard resuscitation. Investigators report outcomes for 26 adults who received ECLS for out-of-hospital, emergency department, or in-hospital cardiac arrest at two urban academic medical centers over 7 years. Patients were enrolled at the discretion of the treating physician in consultation with a cardiothoracic surgeon, according to a consensus-based protocol.
Mean time from arrest to initiation of ECLS was 77 minutes (range, 12–180 minutes). ECLS was initiated during cardiopulmonary resuscitation in most patients (77%). Eighteen patients (69%) had complications, including lower extremity ischemia, stroke, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, …