Outcomes of Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Among Children With Noncardiac Illness Categories

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to determine the association of the use of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) with survival to hospital discharge in pediatric patients with a noncardiac illness category. A secondary objective was to report on trends in ECPR usage in this population for 20 years. DESIGN: Retrospective multicenter cohort study. SETTING: Hospitals contributing data to the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation registry between 2000 and 2021. PATIENTS: Children (<18 yr) with noncardiac illness category who received greater than or equal to 30 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for in-hospital cardiac arrest. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Propensity score weighting balanced ECPR and conventional CPR (CCPR) groups on hospital and patient characteristics. Multivariable logistic regression incorporating these scores tested the association of ECPR with survival to discharge. A Bayesian logistic regression model estimated the probability of a positive effect from ECPR. A secondary analysis explored temporal trends in ECPR utilization. Of 875 patients, 159 received ECPR and 716 received CCPR. The median age was 1.0 [interquartile range: 0.2–7.0] year. Most patients (597/875; 68%) had a primary diagnosis of respiratory insufficiency. Median CPR duration was 45 [35–63] minutes. ECPR use increased over time (p < 0.001). We did not identify differences in survival to discharge between the ECPR group (21.4%) and the CCPR group (16.2%) in univariable analysis (p = 0.13) or propensity-weighted multivariable logistic regression (adjusted odds ratio 1.42 [95% CI, 0.84–2.40; p = 0.19]). The Bayesian model estimated an 85.1% posterior probability of a positive effect of ECPR on survival to discharge. CONCLUSIONS: ECPR usage increased substantially for the last 20 years. We failed to identify a significant association between ECPR and survival to hospital discharge, although a post hoc Bayesian analysis suggested a survival benefit (85% posterior probability).