Rapid Development and Deployment of an Intensivist-Led Venovenous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Cannulation Program

Objectives: To determine the safety and efficacy of a rapidly deployed intensivist-led venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation cannulation program in a preexisting extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program.

Design: A retrospective observational before-and-after study of 40 patients undergoing percutaneous cannulation for venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in an established cannulation program by cardiothoracic surgeons versus a rapidly deployed medical intensivist cannulation program.

Setting: An adult ICU in a tertiary academic medical center in Camden, NJ.

Patients: Critically ill adult subjects with severe respiratory failure undergoing percutaneous cannulation for venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Interventions: Percutaneous cannulation for venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation performed by cardiothoracic surgeons compared with cannulations performed by medical intensivists.

Measurements and main results: Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation cannulation site attempts were retrospectively reviewed. Subject demographics, specialty of physician performing cannulation, type of support, cannulation configuration, cannula size, imaging guidance, success rate, and complications were recorded and summarized. Twenty-two cannulations were performed by three cardiothoracic surgeons in 11 subjects between September 2019 and February 2020. The cannulation program rapidly transitioned to an intensivist-led and performed program in March 2020. Fifty-seven cannulations were performed by eight intensivists in 29 subjects between March 2020 and December 2020. Mean body mass index for subjects did not differ between groups (33.86 vs 35.89; p = 0.775). There was no difference in days on mechanical ventilation prior to cannulation, configuration, cannula size, or discharge condition. There was no difference in success rate of cannulation on first attempt per cannulation site (95.5 vs 96.7; p = 0.483) or major complication rate per cannulation site (4.5 vs 3.5; p = 1).

Conclusions: There is no difference between success and complication rates of percutaneous venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation canulation when performed by cardiothoracic surgeons versus medical intensivist in an already established extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program. A rapidly deployed cannulation program by intensivists for venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation can be performed with high success and low complication rates.