Study Overview

Welcome to the ASCEND study!

ARDS in Children and ECMO initiation strategies impact on Neuro-Development – 

or ASCEND for short.

The goal of the study is to find out how children are doing a year after going on a heart-lung machine with a serious lung injury. ASCEND will ask about children’s abilities and quality of life when the child was in their normal state of health (just prior to being hospitalized), at discharge from the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and at 1-month, 3-months, 6-months, and 12-months after discharge from the PICU. 

Patients enrolled in ASCEND will also be compared to patients enrolled in a different clinical study named PROSpect.  

This study has two parts:

While your child is in the hospital:

After you give your permission, you will complete two surveys – one in the first couple days in the hospital and one right before you leave the PICU. We want to know about your child’s health and behavior before coming to the hospital and when you leave it. 

After your child goes home:

The rest of the study will take place for one year after your child has left the PICU. You will not have to return to the hospital for this part of the study. Instead, the study team will contact you 4 times to complete a survey that asks questions about how your child is doing. You will be able to complete these surveys on the computer or over the phone.

If your local IRB allows it, you will receive a total of $50.00 in gift cards for completing all of the surveys. There is no cost to you to participate in this study.

See the Follow-up Information page for more information about completing the follow-up surveys.