At Huntington Memorial Hospital venovenous (VV) ECMO was introduced in 1990. Both venoarterial (VA) ECMO and VV ECMO are used in the treatment of newborns with severe cardiorespiratory failure; however, in recent years VV ECMO is used with increasing frequency because it preserves the carotid artery. We compared the outcome of patients treated with VV ECMO between October 1990 and July 1995 versus patients treated with VA ECMO during the same period of time. 153 patients were placed on VV ECMO and 7 of them were converted to VA ECMO (6/7 infants survived). There were 146 patients that completed treatment with VV ECMO; whereas 75 newborns were treated with VA ECMO (mean BW 3400g (1880-4660g) vs 3043g (1800-5300g); mean GA 40 weeks(34-43 weeks) vs 38 weeks (34-43 weeks); P<0.01). Prior to ECMO, there were no significant differences between the groups in OI or A-a D02. The survival rate in both groups was comparable. However, VV ECMO patients were extubated and discharged home earlier than VA ECMO patients. The incidence of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) and myocardial stun was also significantly lower in the VV ECMO group. Table

Table 1
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