Early Versus Late Initiation of ECMO Trial (ELIEO-Trial)
This trial is a prospective randomized multicenter trial that assigns patients to either a treatment for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) with an Extracorporal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) immediately after admission to the intensive care unit or conservative treatment. The later can undergo ECMO following failure of conservative therapy as a rescue therapy. Patients will be included within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms of ARDS and will be randomized according to standard procedure. Follow-up will be performed until day 90 after study inclusion.
• ARDS as defined according to the Berlin Definition1
• The term acute onset is defined as follow: the duration of the hypoxemia criterion and the chest radiograph criterion must be ≤ 7 days at the time of randomization.
• Patients must be enrolled within 96 hours of onset of ARDS and no later than 7 days from the initiation of mechanical ventilation.