Neonatal herpes virus infection and extracorporeal life support.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate outcomes among neonates with herpes virus infection reported to the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Registry and analyze factors associated with death before hospital discharge with this virus. Currently, scant data exist regarding extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in neonates with herpes virus infection.

DESIGN

Retrospective analysis of ELSO Registry data set from 1985 to 2005.

SETTING

A total of 114 extracorporeal membrane oxygenation centers contributing data to the ELSO Registry.

PATIENTS

Patients, 0 to 31 days of age, with herpes simplex virus infection supported with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and reported to the ELSO Registry.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Clinical characteristics, outcomes, and factors associated with death before hospital discharge were investigated for patients in the virus group. Kaplan-Meier estimates of survival to hospital discharge according to virus type were investigated. Newborns with herpes simplex virus infection requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support demonstrated much lower hospital survival rates (25%). Clinical presentation with septicemia/shock was significantly associated with mortality for the herpes simplex virus group on multivariate analysis. There was no difference in herpes simplex virus mortality when comparing two eras (> or =2000 vs. <2000).

CONCLUSIONS

In this cohort of neonatal patients with overwhelming infections due to herpes simplex virus who were supported with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, survival was dismal. Patients with disseminated herpes simplex virus infection presenting with septicemia/shock are unlikely to survive, even with aggressive extracorporeal support.