Baseline Characteristics
Table S1 shows baseline characteristics (see Supplementary Table S1). Median age of the cohort was 61 years (IQR 50-69); 67% were men. A total of 30 stroke events occurred in 26 patients (6.3%) at a median of 6.0 (3.1-8.7) days after ECMO cannulation. There were no significant differences in baseline demographic characteristics such as age, sex, or body mass index between patients who had stroke and those who did not. Arteriosclerotic risk factors such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, previous history of stroke, and underlying etiologies of cardiogenic shock were not significantly associated with increased risk for stroke. Rate of concurrent use of other devices such as intra-aortic balloon pump or Impella, baseline lactic acid levels, and active cardiopulmonary resuscitation prior to ECMO cannulation was also similar between the groups.
Among 414 patients in our cohort, 77 patients were cannulated via the ascending aorta (19%), 31 patients via the axillary artery (7%), and 306 (74%) patients via the femoral artery. Table 1 shows patient demographics based on the cannulation type. Baseline characteristics and co-morbidities were not significantly different among groups.