Lung microbiota of patients on ECMO for ARDS due to COVID-19
The purpose of the study was to elucidate the impact of ECMO treatment on the lung microbiota in patients with ARDS. We evaluated the lung microbiota (bacterial, fungal, and viral flora) with and without ECMO by comparing 5 patients on ECMO with 8 patients not on ECMO. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples were collected from ARDS patients with COVID-19 within 24 hours of ARDS diagnosis to perform 16S rRNA, fungal ITS1 profiling and shotgun sequencing