Evaluation of eCPR Survivors

Evaluation of Cardio-pulmonary, Physcial and Neuro-psychiatric Function in Patients Who Survived a Therapy-refractory Cardiac Arrest With Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

A cardiac arrest event has severe impact on the patient´s health-related quality of life. Survival of cardiac arrest does not innately translate to favorable quality of life. In particular, highly invasive resuscitation strategies, including extracorporeal cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) due to therapy-refractory cardiac arrest, may have impact on long-term outcomes. Therefore, apart from acute medical treatment and physical rehabilitation, long-term effects on cardio-pulmonary, physical and neuro-psychiatric functions after cardiac arrest survival have to be evaluated and optimized. We plan to investigate a bundle of cardio-pulmonary, physical and neuro-psychiatric functions in patients who survived a therapy-refratory cardiac arrest with ECPR.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adult patients
• Survival of cardiac arrest
• Use of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) with veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) or ECMELLA (VA-ECMO and left-ventricular Impella micro-axial pump)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Non-adult patients
• No cardiac arrest
• No use of ECPR
• Inability to comply with follow-up