How are you taking part in this consultation?

You will not be able to change how you comment later.

You must be signed in to answer questions

    The content on this page is not current guidance and is only for the purposes of the consultation process.

    Interventional procedure overview of VA ECMO for extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) in adults in refractory cardiac arrest

    Closed for comments This consultation ended on at   Request commenting lead permission

    Existing assessments of this procedure

    European Resuscitation Council (ERC): Guidelines for resuscitation (2021) on ECPR recommends as follows:

    • Consider ECPR as a rescue therapy for selected patients with cardiac arrest when conventional advanced life support (ALS) measures are failing or to facilitate specific interventions (e.g. coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), pulmonary thrombectomy for massive pulmonary embolism, rewarming after hypothermic cardiac arrest) in settings in which it can be implemented.

    International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science with Treatment Recommendations (CoSTR) (2019)

    • ECPR may be considered as a rescue therapy for selected patients with cardiac arrest when conventional CPR is failing in settings in which it can be implemented (weak recommendation, very low certainty of evidence).

    American Heart Association Focused Update on Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support 2019

    • There is insufficient evidence to recommend the routine use of ECPR for patients with cardiac arrest.

    • ECPR may be considered for selected patients as rescue therapy when conventional CPR efforts are failing in settings in which it can be expeditiously implemented and supported by skilled providers.