Background: Since it is uncertain whether acute respiratory failure in patients with interstitial lung disease is reversible, indications for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in these patients remain controversial, except for bridging to lung transplantation. The objective of this study was to clarify in-hospital mortality and prognostic factors in interstitial lung disease patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.Methods: Case-control study. Using the Japanese Diagnosis

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... ure Combination database from 2010 to 2017, we reviewed hospitalized interstitial lung disease patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. As we focused on the efficacy of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as an intervention for managing merely acute respiratory failure, patients treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a bridge to lung transplantation were excluded.Results: A total of 164 interstitial lung disease patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation were included. In-hospital mortality of them was 74.4% (122/164). Compared with survivors, non-survivors were older and received high-dose cyclophosphamide, protease inhibitors, and antifungal drugs more frequently but macrolides and anti-influenza drugs less frequently. Multivariate analysis revealed the following factors were associated with in-hospital mortality: advanced age with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.048 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.015–1.082, non-use of macrolides (OR, 0.264; 95% CI, 0.118–0.589), and use of antifungal drugs (OR, 3.158; 95% CI, 1.377–7.242).Conclusions: Approximately three quarters of interstitial lung disease patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation died in hospital. Moreover, advanced age, non-use of macrolides, and use of antifungal drugs were found to correlate with a poor prognosis.