Veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation with a heparin-coated system in adult respiratory distress syndrome.

Three patients with adult respiratory distress syndrome were treated with veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, ECMO, using a heparin-coated system for 8, 12 and 34 days, respectively. Despite extracorporeal blood flow of 4-5 l/min, the patients were ventilator-dependent in the initial period of ECMO. Two of the three patients showed bleeding diatheses despite only slightly elevated activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). Blood platelet count followed a variable course and serum fibrinogen was normal. Acute pulmonary hypertensive crises, fatal systemic infection, recurrent pneumothorax and plasma leakage from the oxygenators were other main complications during ECMO. Two of the three patients survived, and follow-up showed that severely damaged lungs, if supported in the acute phase, can recover sufficiently to permit normal living.