Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in newborn infants using the umbilical vein as a reinfusion route.

PURPOSE: The authors report on four neonates treated with venovenous (VV) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) using the umbilical vein as a reinfusion route.

METHODS: From 1994 to 1997, 26 instances VV-ECMO in neonates have been carried out at our neonatal center for the treatment of severe respiratory and cardiac failure. Among them, 22 patients could be treated with VV-ECMO mainly using 15F double-lumen catheter (DLC), adding the cephalic drainage using another catheter. In the remaining four cases, however, attempts to insert the DLC into the right internal jugular vein failed because the vein was too small or technical problems. For such instances, two catheters were cannulated into the right atrium and the cephalic portion of the right internal jugular vein, respectively. These two venous catheters were connected to the drainage route of ECMO circuit with a "Y" connector. Then, the umbilical vein was cannulated with 10F or 8F catheter, which was connected to the reinfusion route of ECMO to return the oxygenated blood to the infant.

RESULTS: The median age at which ECMO was initiated was 18 hours, and the median ECMO course was 72 hours. The liver function tests were slightly and transiently worsened in two patients during VV perfusion, (in one patient serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT] elevated to 76 IU/L and serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase [SGPT] to 49 IU/L, and in another patient SGOT elevated to 56 IU/L and SGPT remained in normal range). Preumbilical cannula pressures were measured in two patients. In a patient who used 10F umbilical cannula, the preumbilical maximum pressure was 43 mm Hg at 250 mL/min of ECMO flow. In another with an 8F catheter, it was 72 mm Hg at 180 mL/min of ECMO flow. All of the patients survived without any neurological complications.

CONCLUSIONS: If the right internal jugular vein would not accommodate the DLC, VV-ECMO using the umbilical vein as a infusion route could be selected.