Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Used in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome with COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

INTRODUCTION: Protective pulmonary mechanical ventilation, higher positive end-expiratory pressure, neuromuscular blockade, prone positioning, and pulmonary recruitment procedures are all strategies in severe COVID-19 cases. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) can be seen as an alternative to traditional treatment in certain patients when conventional therapy fails. We present a study that intends to systematically review and meta-analysis ECMO use in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: We search major medical databases (Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, MedRxiv) for clinical trials that were released between January 2020 until February 2021, had full-text availability, were written in English, and humans studies. We used National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) quality evaluation methods for retrospective cohort and cross-sectional studies to evaluate the quality of the articles. In addition, we used the Mantel–Haenszel random-effects meta-analysis of using RevMan 5.4. RESULTS: A total of 33 studies involving 3090 patients were included in the systematic review and six studies in the meta-analysis. There were 828 patients admitted to the ICU, of which 779 patients had ARDS (94%). Of the total study, 527 patients received ECMO therapy (17%). ARDS incidence was associated with complications during ICU care compared to non-ICU care (OR 107.98; 95% CI 55.51–210.03; p < 0.00001). Indirect comparisons, the incidence of mortality was associated with ECMO compared with non-ECMO (OR 15.79; 95% CI 4.21–59.28; p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The incidence of ARDS was associated with complications during ICU stay, and the incidence of mortality was associated with ECMO. Further study about mechanisms involving illness and death of patients from COVID-19 is needed.