Setting Up an ECMO Program in a South American Country: Outcomes of the First 104 Pediatric Patients.

Background:Less than 1% of the extracorporeal life support organization (ELSO) registry patients are from South America. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is an expensive therapy not only in terms of direct financial cost but also with respect to technical and human resources. Finding a successful ECMO model that developing countries can afford is critical to the expansion of therapy to include the availability of this technology for patients in the developing world.Methods:We retrospectively studied the first 104 pediatric ECMO patients in the Fundacion Cardiovascular de Colombia between May 2007 and May 2013. We collected the ELSO registry data from electronic medical records to determine the survival rate, mortality risk factors, and complications in pediatric patients who received ECMO support for cardiac failure, respiratory failure, or ECMO for extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the setting of refractory cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We describe our model of ECMO care regardin...