Résumé
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is increasingly being used as a rescue therapy in patients with severe cardiac and/or respiratory failure. During ECMO, circulating blood from a patient is exteriorised onto the artificial surfaces of circuit tubing and an “artificial lung” (i.e. the oxygenator) membrane in order to provide circulatory and respiratory support. ECMO has been shown to exacerbate the pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic (PD) alterations observed during critical illness for some drugs leading to potential therapeutic failure or toxicity. An increase in volume of distribution and a decrease in drug clearance appear to be the predominant PK alterations induced by ECMO. Sequestration of drugs in the ECMO circuit and pathophysiologic changes induced by ECMO both appear to contribute to these ECMO-induced PK alterations. An advanced understanding of the PK/PD alterations in the setting of ECMO is critical to antibiotic drug dosing in these complex patients pending robust dosing guidelines.