Characteristics of Patients Managed without Positive Pressure Ventilation While on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Patients taken off PPV while on ECMO had a very high likelihood of survival to discharge and were mobilized in half as many days. While this likely reflects patient selection, the benefit of early mobilization is well documented and the approach of extubating while on ECMO warrants further investigation.