Cannulation Strategy and ECMO management
Our ECMO strategy and management is described previously10. The Cardiohelp system (Maquet, Wayne, NJ) was the primary circuit used in our institution but CentriMag or Rotaflow pump was rarely used. In brief, femoral vessel cannulation was usually preferred for all cardiogenic shock patients throughout the study period, however central cannulation was typically used for post-cardiotomy circumstances or when peripheral arterial sites were inaccessible, and axillary cannulation used when femoral arteries were inaccessible or when the axillary artery is cut-down for other purposes. ECMO was managed by multidisciplinary team. Patients were classified based on initial arterial cannulation site.