Planned Extracorporeal Life Support Employment during Liver Transplantation: The Potential of ECMO and CRRT as Preventive Therapies—Case Reports and Literature Review

Abstract

Liver Transplantation (LT) has become the gold standard treatment for End-Stage Liver Disease (ESLD). One of the main strategies to manage life-threatening complications, such as cardio-respiratory failure, is Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) in the peri-transplantation period, with different configurations of the technique and in combination with other extracorporeal care devices such as Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT). This retrospective study includes three clinical cases of planned ECMO support strategies in LT and evaluates their application compared with current literature exploring PubMed/Medline. The three LT supported with ECMO and CRRT were performed at IRCCS Polyclinic S. Orsola-Malpighi, Bologna. All three cases of patients with compromised organ function analysed produced positive outcomes. The planned use of ECMO and CRRT support in peri-transplantation has allowed the patients to overcome contraindications and successfully undergo LT. In recent years, only a few reports have documented successful LT outcomes performed with intraoperative ECMO in critically ESLD patients. However, the management of LT with ECMO and/or CRRT assistance is an emerging challenge, with the need for more published evidence on this topic to guide treatment choices in patients with severe, acute and reversible respiratory and cardiovascular failure after LT.