De senectute and the art of medicine: how old is too old for ECMO in cardiogenic shock?

Abstrakt

Complexity and a certain level of uncertainty are inherent to the clinical scenarios faced by the treating teams, often inundated with exhaustive details. Disease arises from a multitude of factors, each with varying impact on patients' outcomes.

Inevitably, patients have intrinsic and contextual aspects that can modify the pathological magnitude from banal to life-threatening. Additionally, the effectiveness of treatments and supportive therapies varies, again, depending on numerous variables.