ArticleFrontiers in cardiovascular medicine2026
Application of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in respiratory and circulatory support of preterm infants: a multicenter retrospective study in China.
Article in Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) serves as a vital rescue therapy for neonates with refractory cardiopulmonary failure, yet domestic clinical data regarding ECMO use in preterm infants remain scarce. This study sought to summarize clinical experiences and long-term prognostic outcomes of ECMO support among preterm infants in China. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of preterm infants receiving ECMO between January 2018 and November 2025 using data from the Pediatric Extracorporeal Life Support Alliance of China (PELSAC). The primary study outcomes were ECMO weaning success and survival to hospital discharge. Secondary outcomes included ECMO-associated complications, intracranial hemorrhage and hypoxic-ischemic brain injury detected by cranial imaging, and neurodevelopmental delay assessed at corrected age 18-24 months. Clinical outcomes were compared between infants with birth gestational age ≤34 weeks and those >34 weeks. Results: Six out of 23 participating PELSAC centers (26.1%) implemented ECMO for 22 preterm infants, including 8 infants with gestational age ≤34 weeks and 14 infants over 34 weeks. The cohort had a median gestational age of 34 (32-36) weeks, a median birth weight of 2.5 (1.80-3.63) kg, and a median cannulation weight of 2.2 (1.80-2.70) kg. The median ECMO runtime was 112 (19-245) hours. 18 infants (81.8%) were successfully weaned, and 17 (77.3%) survived discharge. Complications were limited to one cannulation-site bleed and one thrombosis. Post-ECMO MRI detected brain injury in 9 of 17 survivors (52.9%), including 5 intracranial hemorrhages (29.4%) and 4 isolated hypoxic-ischemic lesions. At 18-24 months corrected age, 10 survivors (58.8%) had normal neurodevelopment, while 7 (41.2%) had developmental delay. Outcomes did not differ significantly between the ≤34-week and >34-week subgroups. Conclusion: ECMO in preterm infants (≥32 weeks' gestation, ≥1.8 kg) achieves a high survival rate, although neurological complications remain common and require close surveillance. These findings support the potential for wider clinical application of ECMO in carefully selected preterm infants.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.