DENVER, Colo. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — More than 356,000 people in the U.S. suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital each year. As many as 80% die before ever reaching the ER.
Now, when standard CPR isn’t enough, doctors are using an advanced approach.
Every minute without CPR, the chance of survival can drop by 10%. Immediate CPR can double the odds of making it.
However, for some patients, chest compressions, shocks, and medicine still aren’t enough.
“Cardiac arrest is as sick as you can possibly be,” said Dr. Chris Tems, Medical Director of the Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Program at HCA HealthONE Aurora.
At HCA HealthONE Aurora, doctors are using an advanced form of resuscitation called ECPR.
“ECPR uses a machine called ECMO or Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation,” said Tems.
It’s a heart-lung bypass machine used in the ER, taking over the work of the heart and lungs. Until now, it’s been primarily used in the ICU for people with severe heart or lung failure.
The goal isn’t just to restart a heart; it’s to buy time—time for a patient who otherwise may not survive.
“With most patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, nationwide survival is around 9% or so. What we’re seeing with our ECPR program is patients who’ve gotten CPR for even up to an hour, we’re having two-thirds of our patients survive neurologically intact,” he said.
For the right patient, all of it adds up to one thing: a second chance.
“It’s taking somebody who would not, without this therapy, have otherwise survived, and it is returning them to their family,” said Tems.
Doctors stress ECPR is not for every cardiac arrest patient. The best candidates are people who were functioning well before their collapse, had a witnessed arrest, received immediate bystander CPR, and have a cause doctors believe they may be able to reverse, like a blocked artery, a large blood clot, or severe hypothermia. Patients with prolonged downtime, serious underlying illnesses, or signs of irreversible brain injury are much less likely to benefit.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer; & Chuck Bennethum, Editor.
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