CONCLUSIONS
End-stage lung disease patients with acute refractory respiratory failure while waiting for LTx represent a challenging and high-risk cohort of patients. However, VV-ECMO is our favored bridging strategy and we have observed that these patients can be successfully bridged to LTx and can have post-transplant mortality comparable to non-BTT patients. The results of this study provide further insight into early and mid-term outcomes and evidence for the clinical use of VV-ECMO as a bridging strategy for patients with refractory respiratory failure, especially in carefully selected recipients and high-volume ECMO and lung transplant centers.
Author contributions:Davorin Sef and Alessandra Verzelloni Sef: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation and Writing—original draft. Davorin Sef, Alessandra Verzelloni Sef, Vladimir Trkulja and Binu Raj: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology and Validation. Vladimir Trkulja: Statistical analysis. Vladimir Trkulja, Nicholas James Lees, Christopher Walker, Jerry Mitchell, Mario Petrou, Fabio De Robertis, Ulrich Stock, Ian McGovern: Conceptualization; Writing–Review and Editing.