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Cardiac arrest
Long-term life after ECPR for cardiac arrest
Long-term outcomes and quality of life of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors treated with extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation and their caregivers
Resuscitation Plus · 2026-11 · Added 6 November 2026
An Italian tertiary centre followed refractory OHCA survivors treated with ECPR (63 of 406 discharged alive) and their caregivers, finding long-term survival largely confined to good neurological recovery but preserved quality of life, with cognitive impairment and sleep problems common and anxiety more frequent in caregivers.
- Study type
- Cohort
- Design
- Single-centre cohort with long-term multidimensional follow-up
- Participants
- 406 ECPR-treated patients; 17 survivors and 19 caregivers formally assessed
- Main finding
- 63/406 (16%) discharged alive; at median 3.1 years 61% were alive, 82% with favourable neurology, and only 1.7% of all treated were alive with poor neurology; mild cognitive impairment in 6/16 survivors, poor sleep in 10/17, anxiety symptoms more common in caregivers (6/18 vs 1/17).
- Caveat
- Single centre with only 17 assessed survivors — survivor and selection bias likely.
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (Medium relevance). ECPR is a hospital-initiated therapy Australian ambulances don't deliver, but the survivor and caregiver outcomes inform the recovery conversations crews have with families.
Learning goal
Understand the long-term survivor and caregiver outcomes that follow ECPR for refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
More
- Topic: Cardiac arrest
- Daily scan: 6 November 2026
- Podcast: Paramedic Papers Daily, 6 November 2026
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