Effects of Additional Intra-aortic Balloon Counter-Pulsation Therapy to Cardiogenic Shock Patients Supported by Extra-corporeal Membranous Oxygenation.

ECMO is widely used for cardiogenic shock treatment.  Since peripheral V-A ECMO will increase LV afterload and IABP therapy can counterbalance it, will IABP combined with ECMO improve the outcomes? A total of 529 patients (227 ECMO alone and 302 combined IABP plus ECMO) were included.  Compared with ECMO alone, combined IABP and ECMO treatment did not improve outcomes.  Limitation: this is an observational cohort study, large scale randomized controlled standardized trial is needed.