Anticoagulation practices and the prevalence of major bleeding, thromboembolic events, and mortality in venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: The purpose was to evaluate the safety of anticoagulation in venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO). DESIGN: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis using multiple electronic databases. Studies were from 1977 to September 27, 2016. We evaluated the effect of anticoagulation in VA-ECMO on outcomes including major bleeding, thromboembolic events, and in-hospital mortality using a random effects model meta-analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-six studies (1496 patients) were included. Ten studies only had patients with postcardiotomy shock, 4 studies only included extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation patients, and 10 studies had a mixture of patients. Most studies (n=17) were low quality with a Newcastle-Ottawa Scale score ≤5. The summary prevalence of major bleeding was 27% (95% confidence interval [CI], 18%-35%), with considerable between-study heterogeneity (I2=91%). Major bleeding requiring reoperation was the most common bleeding event. The summary prevalence of thromboembolic events was 8% (95% CI, 4%-13%; I2=83%). Limb ischemia, circuit-related clotting, and stroke were the most commonly reported events. The summary prevalence for in-hospital mortality was 59% (95% CI, 52%-67%; I2=78%). CONCLUSIONS: The optimal targets and strategies for anticoagulation in VA-ECMO are unclear. Evaluation of major bleeding and thromboembolic events is limited by study quality and between-study heterogeneity. Clinical trials are needed to investigate the optimal anticoagulation strategy.

Anticoagulation Management and Monitoring during Pediatric Extracorporeal Life Support: A Review of Current Issues.

Anticoagulation is an imperfect science and is even more complicated in neonates and young children. The addition of the extracorporeal life support (ECLS) foreign circuit adds an additional layer of complexity. Anticoagulation goals during ECLS are to maintain a clot-free circuit and a hemostatically balanced patient. Unfractionated heparin (UFH) is the default gold standard anticoagulant as no large studies have been performed on any other anticoagulants. This review will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of the various methods to monitor UFH anticoagulation, discuss alternative anticoagulants, and examine bleeding and thrombotic complications during ECLS.