Disseminated intravascular coagulation is associated with a poor outcome in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest receiving VA-ECMO.

We tested the hypothesis that disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) predicts a poor prognosis in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) treated with veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO). Fifty-seven patients with cardiogenic OHCA who immediately underwent VA-ECMO upon admission to the emergency department were divided into 27 non-DIC and 30 DIC patients. DIC scores were calculated on admission and 24 h later (day 1). The primary outcome measure was the all-cause in-hospital mortality. The basic characteristics did not differ between the two groups; however, patients with DIC showed higher in-hospital mortality rates. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed a moderate predictive ability of DIC scores on day 1 for in-hospital mortality. A lower probability of survival was observed in patients with DIC. The adjusted odds ratio for DIC on day 1 of in-hospital death was 5.67, confirmed by the adjusted hazard ratio of 3.472. The results indicate an association between DIC diagnosis 24 h following VA-ECMO induction for OHCA and poor outcome in these patients.