CONCLUSIONS
End-stage lung disease patients with acute refractory respiratory
failure while waiting for LTx represent a challenging and high-risk
cohort of patients. However, VV-ECMO is our favored bridging strategy
and we have observed that these patients can be successfully bridged to
LTx and can have post-transplant mortality comparable to non-BTT
patients. The results of this study provide further insight into early
and mid-term outcomes and evidence for the clinical use of VV-ECMO as a
bridging strategy for patients with refractory respiratory failure,
especially in carefully selected recipients and high-volume ECMO and
lung transplant centers.
Author contributions:Davorin Sef and Alessandra Verzelloni Sef: Conceptualization, Formal
analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation and Writing—original
draft. Davorin Sef, Alessandra Verzelloni Sef, Vladimir Trkulja and Binu
Raj: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology and
Validation. Vladimir Trkulja: Statistical analysis. Vladimir Trkulja,
Nicholas James Lees, Christopher Walker, Jerry Mitchell, Mario Petrou,
Fabio De Robertis, Ulrich Stock, Ian McGovern: Conceptualization;
Writing–Review and Editing.