Prognostic value of endothelial biomarker in refractory cardiogenic shock with ECLS: a prospective monocentric study

Background Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is often used in critical patients with severe myocardial failure. However, patients on ECMO often have high mortality rate. Recent studies suggest that endothelial activation with subsequent vascular barrier breakdown is a critical pathogenic mechanism in organ damage and related to the outcome in critical illness. This study aimed to determine whether the endothelial biomarkers could serve as prognostic factors for the outcome of patients on ECMO. Methods This prospective study enrolled total 23 critically ill patients on veno-arterial ECMO in the intensive care units of a tertiary care hospital between March 2014 and February 2015. Serum samples were tested for thrombomodulin, angiopoietin (Ang)-1, Ang-2, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were also collected. Results The overall mortality rate was 56.5%. The combination of Ang-2 at the time of ECMO support (day 0) and VEGF at day 2 had the ability of discriminating mortality (area under receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC], 0.854; 95% confidence interval: 0.645-0.965). Conclusions In this study, we found that the combination of Ang-2 at day 0 and VEGF at day 2 was a modest model for mortality discrimination in this group of patients.