Extracorporeal CPR for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. Reply

To the Editor: Suverein et al. (Jan. 26 issue)(1) describe the use of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in patients with refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. After 30 days, survival with a favorable neurologic outcome among patients who were resuscitated with extracorporeal CPR was similar to that with conventional CPR (20% and 16%, respectively). This trial illustrates the high mortality associated with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and also puts the use of extracorporeal CPR as an adjunct to conventional CPR into question. However, the fact that patients who die in the intensive care unit despite all efforts can become organ donors is not . . .