Infections in Children Receiving Extracorporeal Life Support

Objective. To describe risk factors for and the outcome of infections in children receiving extracorporeal life support (ECLS) and to determine the need for removal of foreign bodies with bloodstream infections (BSIs) in children receiving ECLS.Design. Retrospective cohort study.Setting. Tertiary care children’s hospital.Patients. Children receiving ECLS from May 1997 through May 2007.Methods. For patients with documented infections, medical records were examined for demographic, clinical, and laboratory details. Patients with and without documented infections were compared with regard to demographic characteristics and ECLS course.Results. One hundred seventeen patients underwent ECLS for a total of 878 days (median, 5.12 days). Thirty-five patients (29.9%) developed 55 infections, including 21 BSIs (38.2%), 20 urinary tract infections (36.4%), 6 ventilator-associated pneumonia episodes (10.9%), 2 viral infections (3.6%), and 6 miscellaneous infections (10.9%). The rates (in cases per 1,000 ECLS-days) we...