Percutaneous extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is now widespread for treating acute cardiac failure. ECLS has been used for treating in-hospital and out of hospital cardiac arrests. A systematic review of literature was performed in order to assess the results. Nine studies of in-hospital cardiac arrests were published between 2003 and January 31, 2011. They included 724 patients, 208 of which survived without significant neurological sequelae (28.7 %). In the other patients, the initial disease and the consequences of low flow brought multiorgan failure, or ECLS resulted in haemorrhage and ischaemia. Low flow lasted between 42 and 105 min (mean 54min). ECLS was used after out of hospital cardiac arrests in 3 studies published between 2008 and January 31, 2011. They included 110 patients of which only 6 survived (4.4 %) despite strict inclusion criteria. Low flow lasted between 60 and 120 min (mean 98 min.) According to these results the use of ECLS should be encouraged after in-hospital cardiac arrest and training in cardiorespiratory resuscitation should be improved in global population and health professionals.