Ho, ho, ho! Gather ’round, my dear friends, as I tell you a tale from the frosty frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a story about a technique called veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-V ECMO), used as a bridge to transplantation or recovery. Now, this isn’t your usual Christmas story, but it’s one that’s important nonetheless.

In the icy grip of COVID-19, the use of V-V ECMO has risen like a star on a Christmas tree. But unlike other causes of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), using V-V ECMO for COVID-19 has been like waiting for Christmas morning – it requires a longer duration of support.

Our team of elves, I mean, medical professionals, decided to evaluate the outcomes associated with this prolonged ECMO support. They looked back at patients who were placed on ECMO due to COVID-19 associated ARDS, specifically those who required V-V ECMO support for more than 50 days – longer than the wait for Santa’s visit!

The median age of these patients was 48 years, and 72% were males, just like the majority of Santa’s reindeer. The median duration of ECMO support was 84 days, longer than the time it takes to make toys for all the good boys and girls. Sadly, there was a 33% mortality rate within the cohort, a reminder that not all stories have a happy ending.

But don’t lose hope, my friends! 61% of the patients were discharged, and 3 even received a lung transplant, like a special Christmas gift. So, while prolonged V-V ECMO can be as long as the wait for Christmas, it can have comparable outcomes to shorter ECMO runs. With the right resources, like Santa’s workshop and his diligent elves, prolonged ECMO runs can be justified in a carefully selected patient population. So, let’s jingle all the way to better health outcomes, ho, ho, ho!