Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV 2) was identified as a new coronavirus causing pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. It has become a pandemic, spreading particularly quickly across Europe and the US. Most deaths are related to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, but other organ failures, such as acute kidney failure and acute cardiac injury, seem also related to the disease. 1 Inflammatory response is highly increased in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, and inflammation is known to favor thrombosis. High dimerized plasmin fragment D (D-dimer) levels and procoagulant changes in coagulation pathways were reported among patients with severe COVID-19. 2,3 An elevated rate of venous and arterial thrombotic events associated with COVID-19 infection has also been reported. 4,5 This case series reports a systematic assessment of deep vein thrombosis among patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) in France with severe COVID-19. MethodsThis case series was approved by the ethical committee of the Centre Cardiologique du Nord, which granted a waiver of consent because the research presented no risk of harm and required no procedures for which consent is normally required outside a research context. This study followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guideline. Patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia were admitted to our ICU located in the suburban Paris area from mid-March 2020 to the beginning of April 2020. All patients had acute respiratory distress syndrome according to the Berlin definition and required mechanical ventilation.We prospectively performed a venous ultrasonogram of the inferior limbs for all patients at admission to our ICU, considering previous data that showed increased levels of inflammatory markers, preliminary reports from the intensive care community signaling frequent events of deep vein thrombosis in ICU patients with COVID-19 at the time we received our first patients, and the high rate of deep vein thrombosis found among the first patients with COVID-19 admitted to our unit.Considering the high prevalence of venous thrombosis at admission, we systematically repeated venous ultrasonography after 48 hours if the first examination returned normal results. As recommended, all patients received anticoagulant prophylaxis at hospital admission. Statistical analyses were conducted in Prism version 5.0 (GraphPad) and Excel 365 (Microsoft Corp). Statistical significance was set at P < .05, and all tests were 2-tailed. ResultsA total of 34 consecutive patients were included in this study. COVID-19 diagnosis was confirmed with polymerase chain reaction on nasopharyngeal swabs of 26 patients (76%); 8 patients (24%) had a negative result on polymerase chain reaction but had a typical pattern of COVID-19 pneumonia on chest computed tomography scan. Mean (SD) age was 62.2 (8.6) years, and 25 patients (78%) were men. Major comorbidities were diabetes (15 [44%]), hypertension (13 [38%]), and o...

Background In the Île-de-France region (henceforth termed Greater Paris), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was considered early in the COVID-19 pandemic. We report ECMO network organisation and outcomes during the first wave of the pandemic. Methods In this multicentre cohort study, we present an analysis of all adult patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe ARDS requiring ECMO who were admitted to 17 Greater Paris intensive care units between March 8 and June 3, 2020. Central regulation for ECMO indications and pooling of resources were organised for the Greater Paris intensive care units, with six mobile ECMO teams available for the region. Details of complications (including ECMO-related complications, renal replacement therapy, and pulmonary embolism), clinical outcomes, survival status at 90 days after ECMO initiation, and causes of death are reported. Multivariable analysis was used to identify pre-ECMO variables independently associated with 90-day survival after ECMO. Findings The 302 patients included who underwent ECMO had a median age of 52 years (IQR 45−58) and Simplified Acute Physiology Score-II of 40 (31−56), and 235 (78%) of whom were men. 165 (55%) were transferred after cannulation by a mobile ECMO team. Before ECMO, 285 (94%) patients were prone positioned, median driving pressure was 18 cm H 2 O (14−21), and median ratio of the partial pressure of arterial oxygen to the fraction of inspired oxygen was 61 mm Hg (IQR 54−70). During ECMO, 115 (43%) of 270 patients had a major bleeding event, 27 of whom had intracranial haemorrhage; 130 (43%) of 301 patients received renal replacement therapy; and 53 (18%) of 294 had a pulmonary embolism. 138 (46%) patients were alive 90 days after ECMO. The most common causes of death were multiorgan failure (53 [18%] patients) and septic shock (47 [16%] patients). Shorter time between intubation and ECMO (odds ratio 0·91 [95% CI 0·84−0·99] per day decrease), younger age (2·89 [1·41−5·93] for ≤48 years and 2·01 [1·01−3·99] for 49–56 years vs ≥57 years), higher pre-ECMO renal component of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (0·67, 0·55−0·83 per point increase), and treatment in centres managing at least 30 venovenous ECMO cases annually (2·98 [1·46–6·04]) were independently associated with improved 90-day survival. There was no significant difference in survival between patients who had mobile and on-site ECMO initiation. Interpretation Beyond associations with similar factors to those reported on ECMO for non-COVID-19 ARDS, 90-day survival among ECMO-assisted patients with COVID-19 was strongly associated with a centre's experience in venovenous ECMO during the previous year. Early ECMO management in centres with a high venovenous ECMO case volume should be advocated, by applying centralisation and regulation...

BackgroundMost studies about septic shock report a crude mortality rate that neither distinguishes between early and late deaths nor addresses the direct causes of death. We herein aimed to determine the modalities of death in septic shock.MethodsThis was a 6-year (2008–2013) monocenter retrospective study. All consecutive patients diagnosed for septic shock within the first 48 h of intensive care unit (ICU) admission were included. Early and late deaths were defined as occurring within or after 3 days following ICU admission, respectively. The main cause of death in the ICU was determined from medical files. A multinomial logistic regression analysis using the status alive as the reference category was performed to identify the prognostic factors associated with early and late deaths.ResultsFive hundred forty-three patients were included, with a mean age of 66 ± 15 years and a high proportion (67 %) of comorbidities. The in-ICU and in-hospital mortality rates were 37.2 and 45 %, respectively. Deaths occurred early for 78 (32 %) and later on for 166 (68 %) patients in the ICU (n = 124) or in the hospital (n = 42). Early deaths were mainly attributable to intractable multiple organ failure related to the primary infection (82 %) and to mesenteric ischemia (6.4 %). In-ICU late deaths were directly related to end-of-life decisions in 29 % of patients and otherwise mostly related to ICU-acquired complications, including nosocomial infections (20.4 %) and mesenteric ischemia (16.6 %). Independent determinants of early death were age, malignancy, diabetes mellitus, no pathogen identification, and initial severity. Among 3-day survivors, independent risk factors for late death were age, cirrhosis, no pathogen identification, and previous corticosteroid treatment.ConclusionsOur study provides a comprehensive assessment of septic shock-related deaths. Identification of risk factors of early and late deaths may determine differential prognostic patterns.