This study was designed to identify factors associated with in-intensive care unit (ICU) death and develop a practical mortality risk score for venoarterial-extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO)-treated acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. Long-term survivors' health-related quality of life (HRQOL), anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequencies were also assessed.
Data from 138 ECMO-treated AMI patients admitted to two French ICUs (2008-2013) were analyzed. ICU survivors contacted >6 months post-ICU discharge were assessed for HRQOL, psychological and PTSD status.
Sixty-five patients (47 %) survived to ICU discharge. On the basis of multivariable logistic regression analyses, the ENCOURAGE score was constructed with seven pre-ECMO parameters: age >60, female sex, body mass index >25 kg/m(2), Glasgow coma score <6, creatinine >150 μmol/L, lactate (<2, 2-8, or >8 mmol/L), and prothrombin activity <50 %. Six months after ECMO, probabilities of survival were 80, 58, 25, 20, and 7 % for ENCOURAGE score classes 0-12, 13-18, 19-22, 23-27, and ≥28, respectively. The ENCOURAGE score ROC AUC [0.84 (95 % CI 0.77-0.91)] was significantly better than those of the SAVE, SAPS II, and SOFA scores. Survivors' HRQOL evaluated after median follow-up of 32 months revealed satisfactory mental health but persistent physical and emotional-related difficulties, with 34 % (95 % CI 20-49 %) anxiety, 20 % (95 % CI 8-32 %) depression, and 5 % (95 % CI 0-12 %) PTSD symptoms reported.
The ENCOURAGE score might be a useful tool to predict mortality of severe cardiogenic shock AMI patients who received VA-ECMO. However, it now needs prospective validation on other populations of AMI patients.