The Effect of Different Types of Mechanical Circulatory Support on Mortality of Patients after Adult Cardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVES

Sample size may limit the ability of individual studies to detect differences in clinical outcomes between extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) alone and ECMO plus intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) after adult cardiac surgery. Therefore, we undertook a meta-analysis of the best evidence available on the comparison of clinical outcomes of ECMO alone and ECMO plus IABP after adult cardiac surgery.

METHODS

PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Center Registry of Controlled Trials were searched for studies comparing the use of ECMO alone and ECMO plus IABP after adult cardiac surgery. A meta-analysis and a sensitivity analysis were conducted.

RESULTS

Among the 472 screened articles, 24 studies (1302 cases of ECMO plus IABP and 1603 cases of ECMO) were included. A significant relationship between patient risk profile and benefits from IABP plus ECMO was found in terms of the 30-day mortality (odds ratio [OR] 0.75; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.62 to 0.91; P = .004) with postcardiotomy shock (PCS). However, ECMO alone was associated with lower in-hospital mortality (OR 1.75; 95% CI 1.06 to 3.01; Z = 2.19; P = .03) compared with ECMO plus IABP without PCS.

CONCLUSIONS

Pooled data show that patients receiving IABP plus ECMO with PCS have lower 30-day mortality than those receiving ECMO also, which in turn show higher 30-day mortality in patients with IABP plus ECMO without PCS. Further randomized studies are warranted to corroborate these observational data.