Pediatric intensive care preparedness and ECMO availability in children with COVID-19: An international survey (Letter)

Abstract

Since the beginning of the pandemic Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), calls were made for informed allocation of costly, limited health care resources such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).1,2 At the time of writing, the number of children infected by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was relatively small, and the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 were milder than adults.3–6 However, children also required intensive care unit (ICU) admission and ECMO support to manage respiratory failure and/or cardiac failure related to COVID-19.7 To share international experiences and physicians’ perspectives on COVID-19, we developed and spread a brief, pragmatic survey.