ABSTRACT
Mechanical circulatory support has been utilized for pediatric cardiac patients for over 20 years, yet few reports have focused on the long-term follow-up of these critically ill children. Because surviving children may be left with significant physical or neurological abnormalities, it is imperative that long-term outcomes of these children are continuously evaluated in order to confirm that this heroic therapy is worthwhile. Whether poor outcomes are the result of the treatment given or the underlying disease has been difficult to determine. By definition, these children were not expected to survive without mechanical support; thus, a true control group with which to compare outcomes does not exist. Because extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been more widely used for neonates with respiratory failure, long-term follow-up studies are available for this population. In this chapter, the results of long-term outcome studies of pediatric cardiac patients who received mechanical circulatory support will be reviewed, supplemented by information from outcome studies of survivors of ECMO for respiratory failure.
