ABSTRACT
Objectives: To report extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) experience at Princess Alexandra and Gold Coast University hospitals and compare mortality with benchmarks. Design: Case series of patients treated with ECMO. Setting: Two adult tertiary Australian intensive care units with low ECMO case volumes. Participants: Patients treated with ECMO, aged > 18 years. Main outcome measures: Patients were categorised into respiratory, cardiac, and extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (eCPR) groups. Observed mortality was compared with mortality predicted using individual risk of death predictions from the Survival after Veno-arterial ECMO (SAVE) and Respiratory ECMO Survival Prediction (RESP) scores; mortality predicted when mortality predictions of the SAVE score were modified to be consistent with the validation cohort in the SAVE study (Alfred Hospital); and with mortality predicted when eCPR patients were all assigned a risk of death equal to Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Registry eCPR mortality. Results: Over 10 years, 86 patients were treated with ECMO. Eight deaths were observed in 49 patients with respiratory failure, below the 95% CI (13-24) for the deaths predicted by the RESP score (P < 0.001). Nine deaths were observed in 27 patients with cardiac failure, below the 95% CI (14-23) for the deaths predicted by the SAVE score (P < 0.001), but within the 95% CI (9-17) for the deaths predicted by the SAVE score modified to be consistent with the Alfred Hospital cohort (P > 0.05). Seven deaths were observed in the ten eCPR patients, within the 95% CI (4-10) predicted using the risk of death derived from the ELSO Registry. Conclusions: Mortality in two low volume ECMO centres was not inferior to benchmarks.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Bolus dose concentrations of hydrocortisone (50mg/mL) are reported to be incompatible with midazolam and ciprofloxacin in Y-site mixing studies. We evaluated the physical and chemical compatibility of low concentrations of hydrocortisone sodium succinate (1 mg/ mL) with midazolam (1 mg/mL and 2mg/mL) and ciprofloxacin (2 mg/mL) solutions during a simulated Y-site administration study. METHODS: The midazolam 1mg/mL, midazolam 2mg/mL and ciprofloxacin 2mg/mL solutions were individually combined with hydrocortisone sodium succinate 1mg/mL solution in a 1:1 ratio and tested in triplicate. Physical compatibility was evaluated using a previously described method immediately on mixing, after 60 minutes and after 120 minutes. Chemical compatibility was determined by measuring the hydrocortisone sodium succinate concentration of the test solutions 120 minutes after mixing compared with that of a reference sample of hydrocortisone sodium succinate solution. RESULTS: At all time points, when hydrocortisone was mixed with midazolam (1 mg/mL and 2mg/mL) and ciprofloxacin (2 mg/mL), the solutions remained clear, with no haziness, colour change, gas or precipitate formation, thus showing total physical compatibility. There were pharmacologically significant reductions (>10%) in measured hydrocortisone concentration (18.6% with midazolam 2mg/mL, P = 0.06; and 21.3% with ciprofloxacin, P = 0.01) in all of the test samples, as compared with the reference sample. CONCLUSIONS: According to currently recommended criteria, combining hydrocortisone sodium succinate at a concentration of 1mg/mL with a 1mg/mL solution of midazolam appears to be both chemically and physically compatible. However, mixing 1mg/mL hydrocortisone sodium succinate with 2mg/mL midazolam or with 2mg/ mL ciprofloxacin cannot be recommended.
