Background: Refractory cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, and severe acute respiratory failure remain associated with substantial mortality despite advances in advanced life support and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Transportable ECMO platforms may enable rapid deployment, uninterrupted extracorporeal support, and safer in-hospital transport, but early real-world experience with newer systems remains limited. Methods: We conducted a retrospective single-center observational cohort study including all VitalFlow veno-arterial ECMO (VA-ECMO) and veno-venous ECMO (VV-ECMO) deployments performed between November 2025 and March 2026 at a high-volume tertiary cardiac surgery center. Fifteen cases were analyzed, comprising 12 VA-ECMO and 3 VV-ECMO deployments. Data were extracted from electronic health records, perfusion protocols, and ICU documentation. Outcomes included survival to hospital discharge, 30-day survival, neurological outcomes, and complications. Analyses were descriptive. Results: The cohort was exclusively male and clinically unstable at implantation, with high lactate and low pH levels consistent with severe hypoperfusion. Median time-to-flow was 33 min, and median ECMO duration was 8 days. Survival to discharge was 60% overall (66.7% VA-ECMO, 33.3% VV-ECMO), with ECMO weaning success in 86.7% and the primary death cause being multiorgan failure (83.3% of non-survivors). All survivors achieving a favorable neurologic outcome (CPC 1). Thirty-day survival was 73.3%. No major bleeding or stroke occurred. Limb ischemia was observed in 4 patients, with 2 patients requiring fasciotomy, all in the VA-ECMO group. Bronchial infection occurred in 3 patients. Lactate levels improved within the first 24 h, and survivors showed a more pronounced metabolic response. Conclusions: In this early single-center experience, VitalFlow ECMO was feasible and associated with rapid flow establishment, survival to discharge of 60% of patients, and good neurologic outcome among survivors. The complication profile was acceptable, with limb ischemia as the main adverse event. These findings support further evaluation of this transportable ECMO platform in larger multicenter cohorts.
Thwairan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.