A retrospective review was performed of outcomes of ECMO used in pediatric patients with cardiac disease. Among 95 patients, hospital survival was 73%. The most favorable indication was failure to wean from bypass. Risk factors for poor outcomes included chromosomal abnormalities, single venticle, multiple ECMO runs, higher ECMO flows, poor lung compliance, and need for plasma exchange. Almost 90% of survivors had normal or slightly impaired neurologic function at 2 years.

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ANY neurological deficit is devastating for paediatric patients and their families. The careful sceptical reader of the FULL paper may find its penultimate paragraph ‘Neurodevelopmental Outcomes’ quite menacing in that aspect, and not quite in line with the Pythian abstract!