IntroductionVenoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) has been widely used for patients with refractory cardiogenic shock. A common side effect of this technic is the resultant increase in left ventricular (LV) afterload which could potentially aggravate myocardial ischaemia, delay ventricular recovery and increase the risk of pulmonary congestion. Several LV unloading strategies have been proposed and implemented to mitigate these complications. However, it is still indistinct that which one is the best choice for clinical application. This Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) aims to compare the efficacy of different LV unloading strategies during VA-ECMO.Methods and analysisPubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform will be explored from their inception to 31 December 2020. Random controlled trials and cohort studies that compared different LV unloading strategies during VA-ECMO will be included in this study. The primary outcome will be in-hospital mortality. The secondary outcomes will include neurological complications, haemolysis, bleeding, limb ischaemia, renal failure, gastrointestinal complications, sepsis, duration of mechanical ventilation, length of intensive care unit and hospital stays. Pairwise and NMA will respectively be conducted using Stata (V.16, StataCorp) and Aggregate Data Drug Information System (V.1.16.5), and the cumulative probability will be used to rank the included LV unloading strategies. The risk of bias will be conducted using the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool or Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale according to their study design. Subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis and publication bias assessment will be performed. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation will be conducted to explore the quality of evidence.Ethics and disseminationEither ethics approval or patient consent is not necessary, because this study will be based on literature. The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42020165093.

We reported an exceedingly rare adult case of intracardiac teratoma with a bicuspid aortic valve. A small mass was discovered in the right ventricle of a 37‐year‐old man by accident after he was referred to our hospital due to chronic chest distress and aggravated palpitation. We performed a surgical exploration with excision of the lesion after a repeat transthoracic echocardiography suggested a space‐occupying lesion in the interventricular septum. A mature cystic teratoma was pathologically confirmed. During the half‐year follow‐up, no symptoms were reported. This case constitutes the first report of the smallest primary intracardiac teratoma in an adult with a bicuspid aortic valve.

Background: Venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) has been widely used for patients with refractory cardiogenic shock (CS). A common side-effect of this technic is the resultant increase in left ventricular (LV) afterload which could potentially aggravate myocardial ischemia, delay ventricular recovery, and increase the risk of pulmonary congestion. Several LV unloading strategies have been proposed and implemented to mitigate these complications. However, it is still indistinct that which one is the best choice for clinical application. The objective of this Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) is to summarize the evidence and compare the efficacy of different LV unloading strategies during VA-ECMO.Methods: We will perform a systematic search to identify random controlled trials and cohort studies comparing different LV unloading strategies during VA-ECMO. PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) will be explored from their inception to 31 December 2020. The primary outcome will be in-hospital mortality. The secondary outcomes will include neurological complications, hemolysis, bleeding, limb ischemia, renal failure, gastrointestinal complications, sepsis, duration of mechanical ventilation, length of intensive care unit, and hospital stays. Pairwise and network meta-analysis will respectively be conducted using Stata (V.16, StataCorp) and Aggregate Data Drug Information System (ADDIS V.1.16.5), and the cumulative probability will be used to rank the included LV unloading strategies. The risk of bias will be conducted using the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool or Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOS) according to their study design. Subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias assessment will be performed. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) will be conducted to explore the quality of evidence.Discussion: This Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) will address the problem that which strategy could achieve left ventricular (LV) unloading most effectively during venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and increase cardiogenic shock patient survival benefit, and will provide evidence for clinical decision-making.Systematic review registration: PROSPERO registry number: CRD42020165093.