Extracorporeal membrane oxygenator assistance as bridge to recovery in a case of tachycardiomyopathy.

Sustained tachycardia is a rare, usually reversible, cause of dilated cardiomyopathy. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a useful method for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and short-term support for reversible cardiac failure refractory to conventional therapy. The present case consists of a 17-years-old male who presented with symptoms of cardiac insufficiency and tachycardia. Timely extracorporeal circulatory assistance with venous-arterial ECMO was essential to patient stabilization, tachycardia control as well as recognition and ablation of culprit ventricular-atrial posterior-septal accessory pathway. The patient's steady hemodynamic and left ventricular function improvement was documented and extracorporeal circulatory assistance was discontinued 1 week after implantation.