International survey on the management of mechanical ventilation during ECMO in adults with severe respiratory failure.

Abstract No consensus exists on the optimal settings of mechanical ventilation during veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Our aim was to describe how mechanical ventilation and related interventions are managed by adult ECMO centres. A cross-sectional, multi-centre, international survey of 173 adult respiratory ECMO centres. The survey was generated through an iterative process and assessed for clarity, content and face validity. One hundred thirty-three centres responded (76.8%). Pressure control was the most commonly used mechanical ventilation mode (64.4%). Although the median PEEP was 10 cmH2O, 22.6% set PEEP