Extracorporeal Support Prognostication—Time to Move the Goal Posts?

Advances in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) technology are associated with expanded indications, increased utilization and improved outcome. There is growing interest in developing ECMO prognostication scores to aid in bedside decision making. To date, the majority of available scores have been limited to mostly registry-based data and with mortality as the main outcome of interest. There continues to be a gap in clinically applicable decision support tools to aid in the timing of ECMO cannulation to improve patients’ long-term outcomes. We present a brief review of the commonly available adult and pediatric ECMO prognostication tools, their limitations, and future directions.