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Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation-related brain haemorrhages
  1. Jonathan Witherick1,
  2. Kasey Redler1,
  3. Benjamin R Wakerley1,2
  1. 1Department of Neurology, Gloucester Royal Hospital, Gloucester, UK
  2. 2Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Benjamin Wakerley, Department of Neurology, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucester, Gloucestershire GL1 3NN, UK; benwakerley{at}fastmail.fm

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A 44-year-old man was admitted to the intensive care unit for mechanical ventilation after developing pneumonia complicated by acute respiratory distress syndrome. Despite aggressive management, his gas exchange deteriorated, requiring his transfer to a specialist respiratory unit for veno–venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy. During this treatment, recurrent clotting of the extracorporeal filters led to him receiving additional heparin and epoprostenol sodium. His blood film, thrombophilia screen and bone marrow aspirate did not identify a cause for his thrombotic propensity. Soon after starting extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy he became agitated, less responsive and developed lateralised upper motor neurone signs. CT scan of the head (figure 1A) showed multiple areas of acute parenchymal haemorrhage that evolved on sequential imaging (figure 1B). However, after …

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Footnotes

  • Contributors JW and KR collected data. JW and BRW drafted and edited manuscript.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed. This paper was reviewed by Allan Ropper, Boston, USA.