THE USE OF EXTRACORPOREAL MEMBRANE OXYGENATION IN CRITICAL LIVER TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a form of life support that maintains tissue oxygenation as much as blood circulation in patients with severe, life threatening respiratory or cardiac failure or both simultaneously. It is a support modality that is not only used as a last resort in patients with severe cardiopulmonary collapse where conventional interventions have been inadequate, but also as a bridge to transplant and to the placement of more denitive therapies. This paper specically focuses on the utilisation of ECMO in liver transplant recipients and particularly explores its use at the high volume transplant centre: the University of Chicago Hospital. Data from 26 patients in Chicago was analysed, all of whom underwent liver transplantation between January 2017 and December 2022 and received ECMO support either pre-, peri- or post-operatively. The timing of the initiation of ECMO in these patients followed the trends in literature where pre-operative initiation of ECMO is the least common by far. This paper aims to explore the indications and outcomes of the patients in each category and subsequently evaluate whether ECMO support should be considered more in similar cases.