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These data suggest an association between levosimendan treatment and improved short- and long-term survival in patients undergoing ECMO support after cardiovascular surgery.

BackgroundExtracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) represents a valuable and rapidly evolving therapeutic option in patients with severe heart or lung failure following cardiovascular surgery. However, despite significant advances in ECMO techniques and management, prognosis remains poor and accurate risk stratification challenging. We therefore evaluated the predictive value of liver function variables on all-cause mortality in patients undergoing venoarterial ECMO support after cardiovascular surgery.MethodsWe included into our single-center registry a total of 240 patients undergoing venoarterial ECMO therapy following cardiovascular surgery at a university-affiliated tertiary care center.ResultsThe median follow-up was 37 months (interquartile range 19–67 months), and a total of 156 patients (65 %) died. Alkaline phosphatase and total bilirubin were the strongest predictors for 30-day mortality, with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) per 1–standard deviation increase of 1.36 (95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.10–1.68; P = 0.004) and 1.22 (95 % CI 1.07–1.40; P = 0.004), respectively. The observed associations persisted for long-term mortality, with adjusted HRs of 1.27 (95 % CI 1.03–1.56; P = 0.023) for alkaline phosphatase and 1.22 (95 % CI 1.07–1.39; P = 0.003) for total bilirubin.ConclusionsThe present study demonstrates that elevated values of alkaline phosphatase and total bilirubin are sensitive parameters for predicting the short-term and long-term outcomes of ECMO patients.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13054-016-1242-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Preclinically administered femoral nerve blockade effectively decreases pain, anxiety, and heart rate after femoral trauma. Regional blockade is an option for out-of-hospital analgesia administered by a trained physician.