ECMO patient energy requirements: A descriptive, retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Indirect calorimetry (IC) in patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is complicated. This study presents a novel IC method for this population and compares energy expenditure (EE) from IC with predictive equations. METHODS: , and sweep flow. EE was calculated from the combined readings. EE was compared with 25 kcal/kg, 30 kcal/kg, and Mifflin St Jeor. Subanalysis compared EE over time (ECMO days 1-3, 4-10, 11-21, and >21) and between venoarterial and venovenous patients. RESULTS: = 0.15-0.61) overall or after stratification by cannulation type. CONCLUSION: This study presents a viable method for incorporating IC in patients receiving ECMO. Using this method, EE in patients receiving ECMO was significantly lower than predicted. Using IC may help prevent overfeeding.