Dual lumen cannulation and mobilization of patients with venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

The registry included 355 V-V ECMO patients (median age 55.6 years, 31.8% female, 27.3% with preexisting pulmonary disease), 289/355 (81.4%) primary cannulated with DLC and 66/355 (18.6%) using SLC. Both groups were similar in pre-ECMO characteristics. Runtime of the first ECMO cannula was significantly longer in DLC compared to SLC (169 vs. 115h, p=0.015). Frequency of prone positioning during V-V ECMO was similar in both groups (38.4 vs. 34.8%, p=0.673). There was no difference in in-bed mobilization (41.2 vs. 36.4%, for DLC and SLC, respectively, p=0.491). Patients with DLC were more often mobilized out-of-bed (25.6 vs. 12.1%, OR 2.495 (95% CI 1.150 to 5.268), for DLC and SLC, respectively, p=0.023). Hospital survival was similar in both groups (46.4 vs. 39.4%, for DLC and SLC, respectively, p=0.339) CONCLUSION: Patients cannulated with a dual lumen cannula for V-V ECMO support were significantly more often mobilized out-of-bed. Since mobilization is important in prolonged ICU courses typical for ECMO patients, this might be an important benefit. Other benefits of DLC were longer runtime of the initial cannula set and less suction events.