Multi-drug Resistant Gram-negative Bacteria and Veno-venous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)

Noteworthy, the most frequent NIs occurring during VV-ECMO are pneumonia (\>40%) and, secondly, blood-stream infections (3-18%). The situation is more challenging for Gram-negative bacilli: more than one-half of the Escherichia coli and more than one-third of the Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were resistant to at least one antimicrobial group. Of note, an alarming increase in carbapenem resistance has been reported in several species, including K. pneumoniae (7.9% of isolates), P.aeruginosa (16.5% of isolates) and A. baumannii (\>30% of isolates). In fact, the isolation of MDROs has been shown to be an independent risk of death and of subsequent infections not only in critically ill patients but also in those patients requiring VV-ECMO (mortality rate between 56-68%). However, data are still conflicting about the exact incidence of multidrug resistant organisms (MDRO) during VV-ECMO and the impact on short- and mid-term outcomes.