Farid Salih, Johann Lambeck, Albrecht Günther, Caroline Ferse, Olaf Hoffmann, Konstantinos Dimitriadis, Andre Finn, Stephan A Brandt, Benjamin Hotter, Florian Masuhr, Stephan Schreiber, Florian Weissinger, Andrea Rocco, Hauke Schneider, Wolf-Dirk Niesen
PURPOSE: The Harlequin syndrome may occur in patients treated with venoarterial extracorporal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO), in whom blood from the left ventricle and the ECMO system supply different parts of the body with different pa CO2 -levels. The purpose of this study was to compare two variants of pa CO2 -analysis to account for the Harlequin syndrome during apnea testing (AT) in brain death (BD) determination. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-seven patients (median age 48 years, 26-76 years; male n = 19) with VA-ECMO treatment were included who underwent BD determination...
February 22, 2024: Journal of Critical Care