Objective: To describe the later health status of newborn infants who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)-for acute respiratory failure in th e era after the UK ECMO trial. Design: Prospective follow up study of newborn in fants who received ECMO at a single centre between January 1997 and January 2001 . Setting: Departments of ECMO and Paediatric Intensive Care, University Hospita ls of Leicester. Patients: All babies who received ECMO within 14 days of birth. Interventions: Neurodevelopment screening using the schedule for growing skills -II (SGS-II) assessment tool. Main outcome measures: Survival at 12 months of age by disease and functional development at follow up. Results: A total of 145 neonates received ECMO for treatment of respiratory failure. Of these, 108 (75% ) were alive at 1 year of age. There were no deaths in children treated for resp iratory failure secondary to meconium aspiration syndrome (73/145). Ninety three (86%of survivors) infants attended a follow up visit at 11-19 months postnata l age. Eighty two were classed as normal, seven as having “impairment”, and fo ur as having “severe disability”. Conclusions: Most newborn infants with acute respiratory failure treated with ECMO will have a normal neurodevelopment scree ning assessment at 11-19 months of postnatal age. There is no evidence to sugge st that changes in neonatal practice since the UK ECMO trial have led to changes in outcome of infants undergoing ECMO therapy.
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