Department of Advanced Cardiopulmonary Therapy and Transplantation, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Divisions of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Perfusion. 2021 May;36(4):358-364. doi: 10.1177/0267659120973843. Epub 2020 Nov 25.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has required rapid and effective protocol adjustments at every level of healthcare. The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is pivotal to COVID-19 treatment in cases of refractory hypoxemic hypercapnic respiratory failure. As such, our large, metropolitan air ambulance system in conjunction with our experts in advanced cardiopulmonary therapies modified protocols to assist peripheral hospitals in evaluation, cannulation and initiation of ECMO for rescue and air transportation of patients with COVID-19 to our quaternary center. The detailed protocol is described alongside initial data of its use. To date, 14 patients have been placed on ECMO support at an outside facility and successfully transported via helicopter to our hub hospital using this protocol.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行要求在医疗保健的各个层面迅速有效地调整方案。体外膜氧合（ECMO）的使用对于难治性低氧性高碳酸血症呼吸衰竭的 COVID-19 治疗至关重要。因此，我们的大型都会空中救护系统与我们的高级心肺治疗专家合作，修改了方案，以协助外围医院对 COVID-19 患者进行评估、插管和开始 ECMO 治疗，并将其从外围医院转送到我们的四级中心进行抢救和空运。详细方案及其使用的初步数据均已描述。迄今为止，已有 14 名患者在外部医疗机构接受 ECMO 支持，并使用该方案成功通过直升机转运至我们的中心医院。
