Air sanitary transport using ECMO in the treatment of ARDS – case study.

Abstract

In justified cases, the Polish Medical Air Rescue allows transport of a patient with medical equipment which is not standard medical equipment of the Air Transport Team. In the case at hand, a patient diagnosed with ARDS depended on extracorporeal therapy with an oxygenator. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is successfully used in the world and more and more frequently in Poland. It can also be administered using an aircraft of the Polish Medical Air Rescue. Necessity to involve many personnel members and resources indicates the complexity of the described transport of the patient. The authors demonstrate a case of a 22-year-old female patient who one and a half months ago was found unconscious at home following a suicidal attempt (status post aspiration, overdose of the Ketrel drug). Due to the absence of other possible treatments, a decision was made in the hospital to transport the patient to a centre a with higher referral level. Thanks to proper logistics, equipment and protection of the personnel, the Polish Medical Air Rescue transported the patient 260 km in a straight line during ECMO.

Keywords

• polish medical air rescue
• ecmo
• hems
• air transport
• ards.