Abstract WP385: Altered Adaptive Immune Response Correlates With Brain Injury in Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Treated Pediatric Patients

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is a life-saving procedure that provides short-term cardiac and respiratory support to people whose heart and lungs are dysfunctional. Growing use of ECMO has expanded the indications beyond acute severe respiratory and cardiac failure to include extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation and as a bridge for lung transplantation. Usage of ECMO within the pediatric population has seen a number of complications including an acute induction of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and long-term developmental neurological deficits, with an increasing number of children exhibiting neurological morbidities. We hypothesized that ECMO may potentiate the induction of a central nervous system (CNS)-targeting adaptive immune response which may lead to neurological injury. Using a single center prospective observational study, we sampled 20 pediatric ECMO patients and 5 aged-match disease control patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated using the...