Kenji Fujizuka, Mitsuaki Nishikimi, Kazuya Kikutani, Ryo Emoto, Shinichiro Ohshimo, Shigeyuki Matsui, Nobuaki Shime, Hiroyuki Suzuki, J-CARVE registry group, Junki Ishii, Jun Hamaguchi, Kazuki Matsumura, Keiki Shimizu, Mitsunobu Nakamura, Mamoru Masuda, Yoshihiro Hagiwara, Takayuki Ogura, Ryuichi Nakayama, Naofumi Bunya, Junichi Maruyama, Yosuke Matsumura, Yoshitaka Ogata, Amemiya Yu, Masayuki Yagi, Yutaro Furukawa, Hayato Taniguchi, Noriyuki Hattori, Shinichi Kai, Tokuji Ikeda
BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the prognostic impact of high fever after decannulation from veno-venous (V-V) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We aimed to investigate the incidence and prognostic significance of post-decannulation high fever in this population, exploring its association with mortality, stratified by the presence of infectious complications at decannulation. METHODS: This study was a post hoc analysis of a multicenter retrospective registry that included adult patients with severe ARDS who were successfully weaned off V-V ECMO between 2012 and 2022 across 24 institutions in Japan. High fever was defined as a core body temperature of ≥ 39.0 °C within 3 days after ECMO decannulation. The primary outcome was 90-day in-hospital mortality. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the association between post-decannulation high fever and mortality. As a subgroup analysis, we evaluated this association according to the presence or absence of infectious complications. RESULTS: Among 522 patients, 121 (23.2%) developed high fever within 3 days after ECMO decannulation. In the overall cohort, 90-day in-hospital mortality did not differ significantly between the high-fever and no-fever groups (19.0% vs. 13.7%, p = 0.372). Multivariable analysis showed no statistically significant association between high fever and mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55-1.56, p = 0.770). Subgroup analyses revealed opposite associations depending on infection status. High fever was associated with reduced mortality in patients with infection (HR 0.33, 95% CI 0.12-0.89, p = 0.045) but increased mortality in those without (HR 2.25, 95% CI 1.23-4.11, p = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS: Post-decannulation high fever occurs in nearly one-fourth of patients with severe ARDS treated with V-V ECMO. Its association with mortality appears to differ depending on the infection status at decannulation, underscoring the importance of carefully assessing infectious complications.