Background. Major bleeding has been a common and serious complication with poor outcomes in ECMO patients. With a novel, less-invasive cannulation approach and closer coagulation monitoring regime, the incidence of major bleeding is currently not determined yet. Our study aims to examine the incidence of major bleeding, its determinants, and association with mortality in peripheral-ECMO patients. Method. We conducted a single-center retrospective study on adult patients undergoing peripheral-ECMO between January 2019 and January 2020 at a tertiary referral hospital. Determinants of major bleeding were defined by logistic regression analysis. Risk factors of in-hospital mortality were determined by Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. Results. Major bleeding was reported in 33/105 patients (31.4%) and was associated with higher in-hospital mortality [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 3.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.63–7.80, p < 0.001 ). There were no significant difference in age, sex, ECMO indications, ECMO modality, pre-ECMO APACHE-II and SOFA scores between two groups with and without major bleeding. Only APTT >72 seconds [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 7.10, 95% CI 2.60–19.50, p < 0.001 ], fibrinogen <2 g/L [aOR = 7.10, 95% CI 2.60–19.50, p < 0.001 ], and ACT >220 seconds [aOR = 3.9, 95% CI 1.20–11.80, p = 0.017 ] on days with major bleeding were independent predictors. Conclusions. In summary, major bleeding still had a fairly high incidence and poor outcome in peripheral-ECMO patients. APTT > 72 seconds, fibrinogen < 2 g/L were the strongest predicting factors for major bleeding events.

Little is known about the role of neutrophil CD64 (nCD64) in detecting sepsis early in Asian populations. We examined the cut-off and predictive values of nCD64 for diagnosing sepsis in Vietnamese intensive care units (ICU) patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the ICU of Cho Ray Hospital between January 2019 and April 2020. All 104 newly admitted patients were included. Sensitivity (Sens), specificity (Spec), positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV), and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to compare the diagnostic values of nCD64 with those of procalcitonin (PCT) and white blood cell (WBC) for sepsis. The median nCD64 value in sepsis patients was statistically higher than that of non-sepsis patients (3106 [1970–5200] vs. 745 [458–906] molecules/cell, p < 0.001). ROC analysis found that the AUC value of nCD64 was 0.92, which was higher than that of PCT (0.872), WBC (0.637), and nCD64 combined, with WBC (0.906) and nCD64 combined with WBC and PCT (0.919), but lower than that of nCD64 combined with PCT (0.924). With an AUC value of 0.92, the nCD64 index of 1311 molecules/cell-detected sepsis with 89.9% Sens, 85.7% Spec, 92.5% PPV, and 81.1% NPV. nCD64 can be a useful marker for early sepsis diagnosis in ICU patients. nCD64 combined with PCT may improve the diagnostic accuracy.

Introduction: Hemostatic dysfunction during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) due to blood-circuit interaction and the consequences of shear stress by flow rates lead to rapid activation of the coagulation cascade and thrombus formation in the ECMO system and blood vessels. In this study, we aimed to identify the incidence and risk factors for cannula-associated arterial thrombosis (CaAT) post-decannulation. Methods: A retrospective study of patients undergoing arterial cannula removal following ECMO. We evaluated the incidence of CaAT and compared clinical characteristics, pre-ECMO severity, and daily hemostasis parameters in patients with and without CaAT. Multivariate analysis revealed the risk factors for CaAT. Results: Forty-seven patients requiring venoarterial ECMO or hybrid methods were recruited to be screened for thrombosis. The median SOFA score was 11 (8-13). CaAT occurred in 29 patients (61.7%), with thrombosis in the superficial femoral artery accounting for 51.7%. Limb ischemia complications in the group with CaAT was 17.2%. In multivariate analysis, an ECMO flow rate of 100 mL/min was determined to be the independent factor for CaAT with an OR of 0.84 (95% CI, 0.73–0.95, p=0.008). Conclusion: In patients successfully weaned from ECMO, the incidence of CaAT was 61.7%. Our study found that a low-flow rate of ECMO was an independent risk factor for CaAT.

Background Sepsis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in intensive care units (ICUs). The neutrophil CD64 (nCD64) index has been suggested to be a biomarker that can help early diagnose sepsis in these settings. However, little is known about the role of this biomarker in Asian patients. This study examined the cut-off and predictive values of nCD64 for diagnosing sepsis in Vietnamese ICU patients. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at the General ICU of Cho Ray Hospital between January 2019 and April 2020. All 104 newly admitted patients with or without sepsis were included. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to compare the diagnostic value of nCD64 with that of serum procalcitonin (PCT) and while blood cell (WBC) count for sepsis. Results The median nCD64 index in sepsis patients was statistically higher than that of non-sepsis patients (3,106 [1,970-5,200] vs 745 [458-906] molecules/cell, P<0.001). ROC analysis found that the area under the ROC curve (AUC) value of nCD64 was 0.92, which was higher than that of PCT (0.872) and WBC (0.637), nCD64 combined with WBC (0.906), and nCD64 combined with WBC and PCT (0.919) but lower than that of nCD64 combined with PCT (0.924). With an AUC value of 0.92, the nCD64 index of 1,311 molecules/cell detected sepsis with a sensitivity of 89.9%, specificity of 85.7%, positive predictive value of 92.5%, and negative predictive value of 81.1%. Conclusions nCD64 can be used as a useful marker for early detecting sepsis in adult ICU patients. A combination of nCD64 and PCT may improve the diagnostic accuracy. More large studies are needed to examine the variance of the cut-off values of nCD64 for diagnosing sepsis in the wider Vietnamese population and comparable countries.