Jon interviews Dr. Stephen Wall from NYU on the podcast where they discuss the need for organs and how ECPR inclusion criteria can significantly impact the problem.

This episode is a follow up to last month’s episode with Nichole Bosson.  Zack interviews Vadim Gudzenko about the in-patient aspects and critical care doctor perspective on the Los Angeles OHCA ECPR program.  A few take homes are that EMS is critical to any OHCA ECPR program.  Nurses need support for these intense patients with high mortality.  And emergency physicians need to buy in to the idea of ECMO for cardiac arrest to make a successful program.

Upcoming Events

Sept – ELSO – Summary – 34th Annual ELSO Conference (cvent.com)

Oct – Prague ECPR School – https://www.ecprprague.com/

Nov – Reanimate Reanimateconference.com

Zack and Jon’s Editorial about Sakuraya PE trial

https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1hlr514RWGNg8s

Joe and I discuss ECPR cannulae placement from a cognitive task analysis (sort of) perspective. Beware: agonizing detail follows.

I believe this episode may help you even if you never do ECMO, as it is directly applicable to large central line placement as well.

The amazing blog and podcast: Intensive Care Network run by Oli Flower and Matt Mac Partlin recorded this lecture by Steven Bernard talking about the CHEER Trial of ECPR.

In this episode we talk about how we prepare for, and run, our codes.  When we began incorporating ECPR into our resuscitation strategy we found ourselves saving patients who would have otherwise died.  The traditional nihilistic approach to the arresting patient was overturned with ECPR by providing hope that wasn’t previously there. Naturally,  we took a closer look at each element of the code, from the time the patient hit the door to the time we started the pump.  And we realized we were doing a lot of stuff wrong.  Here is how I do it:

1.  Medic gurney entry:    If you’re doing ECPR, then vascular access of the femoral vessels is a top priority. Most of us are right handed and prefer to access the femoral vasculature on the patient’s right.  But that’s EXACTLY where the medic gurney offloads the patient- big mistake. Time is wasted waiting for the medics to move the patient to your hospital gurney, remove monitor leads, pack up the monitor, avoid pulling out IV’s and then leave the room.  Only then could the “line doctor” push the ultrasound machine into the room, disrobe the patient, gown up, place a sterile US probe cover, prep the field and get to work.  That’s precious minutes wasted.  Stop doing that!  Bring the medic gurney in on the other side!  Your “line doctor” is already completely ready to go.

2. Protocolize EVERYTHING:  ACLS provides  a protocolized framework for running a code.  But what about all that stuff that happens from the ambulance bay until care is transferred to you?  And can we improve on the current ACLS algorithm?  Most of us appreciate that protocoling doesn’t restrict us; in fact, quite the opposite.  A protocol allows cognitive offloading of important, yet routine, steps in a process which frees us to focus on tasks specific to that patient.

If you are considering establishing an ED ECMO or ECPR program at your facility, I highly recommend that you take a close look at everything that is done from the time the patient hits your door to the time the ECLS pump is started. We aren’t saying this is the only way to do it, but this is how we do it:

• Staging the room: not unlike a theatrical play, each person and each piece of equipment has a specific role and a specific position in resuscitation suite.  Do it the same way every single time.

Some roles that are unique to our resuscitation team:

• “Line Doctor”: MD responsible for femoral vascular access
• “Code Doctor”: MD responsible for running the code and decision-making
• “Code Team Leader”: RN responsible for timing of important events (ie drug delivery, shocking, pulse checks, etc). This RN also does computer-based charting.
• “Med/Electric Nurse”: RN responsible for pushing drugs and delivering shocks
• “Resuscitation Cart”: lives just outside the room and has two shelves and house the following:

• Quiet the room: as the medics enter the room, quickly remind everyone to limit unnecessary noise.

• The paramedic gurney (with ongoing CPR) enters the room on the right side of the room (if you are looking from outside to inside the room), not the left (which is how you are likely accepting your patients now.)

• After transfer of the patient from the medic gurney to the ED bed, chest compressions are immediately assumed by “Chest compressor #1”.  compressions then move back and forth between the two “Chest compressors” at pulse checks.
• Since femoral vascular access is a huge focus, I would also recommend that you assign a free hand (RN or tech) to “groin access,” who is standing outside the room with trauma shears in one hand a bottle of betadine in the other.  Once the patient is moved from the medic gurney to the ED Bed, that individual is tasked with stripping the pants off (by cutting or pulling) and drenching the groins in betadine.  It becomes an efficient task for the “line doc” to drop a drape, place the US probe, and gain femoral vascular access.
• Of course, the need for both of these human chest compressors (and valuable real estate in the resuscitation room) is eliminated if you have a mechanical chest compression device such as the LUCAS2:

This is the interview that started all of the trouble. Scott got to interview Joe on the amazing resuscitative ECMO program at Sharp Memorial in San Diego on an episode of the EMCrit podcast.

Great question! This may be the hardest question we deal with when a patient arrives and ECPR is a consideration.

This episode is broken down into three parts:

1. Who exactly do we consider an appropriate candidate for ECPR?
2. TOR = Termination of Resuscitation in the pre-hospital arena and why we HATE it!
3. Pre-hospital ECPR – REALLY?

In this episode, Joe and Zack discuss the three stages of ECPR initiation.

For greater detail, videos, and simulations come to the ECPR Page in the tutorial section.

In this episode, Joe and Zack discuss some of the terminology and basics of ECMO and ECLS.

• ECMO = Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation
• ECLS = Extracorporeal Life Support
• CPS = Cardiopulmonary Support
• ECPR (extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation)=ECLS initiation in the arresting patient

• STEMI with refractory VFIB
• PE with shock or dysrythmia
• Aortic Dissection
• Massive OD
• Pregnant with Amniotic fluid embolus
• Hypothermia with temperature-dependent dysrythmia
• Trauma

Future podcast episodes will drill down into the details of ECMO initiation, but in this episode Zack and Joe discuss Zack’s recent case where Zack did it all: managed the code…placed the cannulas…and initiated bypass, right there in the Emergency Department.

In this episode you’ll hear why we started the EDECMO project and a little bit about what we hope to offer.

One of the biggest questions in ECPR right now is how do we organize our system to provide ECPR in an effective and streamlined approach?  Nichole Bosson, Dave Shavelle and the army of L.A. ECPR enthusiasts have successfully implemented a multi-hospital ECPR receiving center program in Los Angeles.  In this episode, Zack talks with Dr. Bosson about how they started, what they learned, and where they are going.

A little about Dr. Bosson

• She is the Assistant Medical Director at the Los Angeles County EMS Agency. She is an Associate Clinical Professor at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and faculty and EMS fellowship director in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA.

• Here is the link to her paper

Bosson N, Kazan C, Sanko S, Abramson T, Eckstein M, Eisner D, Geiderman J, Ghurabi W, Gudzenko V, Mehra A, Torbati S, Uner A, Gausche-Hill M, Shavelle D. Implementation of a regional extracorporeal membrane oxygenation program for refractory ventricular fibrillation out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitation. 2023 Jun;187:109711. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2023.109711. Epub 2023 Jan 30. PMID: 36720300.

• And here is Jason Bartos’ editorial

Bartos JA, Yannopoulos D. Starting an Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation Program: Success is in the details. Resuscitation. 2023 Jun;187:109792. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2023.109792. Epub 2023 Apr 10. PMID: 37044354.

Jon Marinaro takes EDECMO through another great podcast.  This time he interviews Christine Stead, the CEO of ELSO.  She talks about how ELSO is setting up standards for ECMO programs to try to make ECMO care at all hospitals safer.  She talks about how she works also with the device industry.  This involves working with the FDA for future innovations and CMS for reimbursement issues.  She talks about the website and how to get your program certified.  Christine as a person is amazing.  She and her 5 person team runs an organization that has its hands in so many different areas.  Also, she is avid runner having completed 12 Boston Marathons!

ELSO website – www.elso.org

Annual ELSO conference in Seattle

Reanimate 9 is nearly sold out.  November 2023.  Check it out here

In this episode Jon Marinaro joins the ED ECMO team and interviews his colleague Sundeep Guliani, MD about the use of an ECMO first strategy for Massive Pulmonary Embolism. Jon and Sundeep review the data and processes from their institution and from other institutions in the United States.  Could it be that ECLS could move the survival needle on this high mortality disease? Listen and find out!

Hobohm L, Sagoschen I, Habertheuer A, Barco S, Valerio L, Wild J, Schmidt FP,
Gori T, Münzel T, Konstantinides S, Keller K. Clinical use and outcome of
extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in patients with pulmonary embolism.
Resuscitation. 2022 Jan;170:285-292. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2021.10.007.
Epub 2021 Oct 12. PMID: 34653550.

Shinar Z, Hutin A. Pulmonary ECMO-ism: Let’s add PEA to ECPR indications.
Resuscitation. 2022 Jan;170:293-294. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2021.11.004.
Epub 2021 Nov 10. PMID: 34774708.

Pudil J, Rob D, Smalcova J, Smid O, Huptych M, Vesela M, Kovarnik T,
Belohlavek J. Pulmonary embolism related refractory out-of-hospital cardiac
arrest and extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation: Prague OHCA study post-
hoc analysis. Eur Heart J Acute Cardiovasc Care. 2023 May 12:zuad052. doi:
10.1093/ehjacc/zuad052. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37172033.

Karami M, Mandigers L, Miranda DDR, Rietdijk WJR, Binnekade JM, Knijn DCM,
Lagrand WK, den Uil CA, Henriques JPS, Vlaar APJ; DUTCH ECLS Study Group.
Survival of patients with acute pulmonary embolism treated with venoarterial
extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J
Crit Care. 2021 Aug;64:245-254. doi: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2021.03.006. Epub 2021 Mar
24. PMID: 34049258.

In this episode, Jon Marinaro and Zack Shinar go through the hot off the press Inception trial.  The trial was touted as a negative ECPR study though many reasons make this trial different then the ARREST trial.  They go through several important take home points for practitioners starting or running an ECPR/ECMO program.

Inception Trial

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2204511

In this podcast, Joe Tonna tells us how to approach hypothermia with ECPR patients.  He also goes through his paper RESCUE-IHCA giving us an immediate way to prognosticate in patients to use of ECMO or not.

Hypothermia – Resuscitation

Nakashima T, Ogata S, Noguchi T, Nishimura K, Hsu CH, Sefa N, Haas NL, Bĕlohlávek J, Pellegrino V, Tonna JE, Haft J, Neumar RW. Association of intentional cooling, achieved temperature and hypothermia duration with in-hospital mortality in patients treated with extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation: An analysis of the ELSO registry. Resuscitation. 2022 Aug;177:43-51. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2022.06.022. Epub 2022 Jul 3. PMID: 35788020.

Hypothermia Meta-Analysis

Duan J, Ma Q, Zhu C, Shi Y, Duan B. eCPR Combined With Therapeutic Hypothermia Could Improve Survival and Neurologic Outcomes for Patients With Cardiac Arrest: A Meta-Analysis. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2021 Aug 13;8:703567. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.703567. PMID: 34485403; PMCID: PMC8414549.

In Hospital Cardiac Arrest and ECPR Inclusion

Tonna JE, Selzman CH, Girotra S, Presson AP, Thiagarajan RR, Becker LB, Zhang C, Rycus P, Keenan HT; American Heart Association Get With the Guidelines–Resuscitation Investigators. Resuscitation Using ECPR During In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (RESCUE-IHCA) Mortality Prediction Score and External Validation. JACC Cardiovasc Interv. 2022 Feb 14;15(3):237-247. doi: 10.1016/j.jcin.2021.09.032. Epub 2022 Jan 12. PMID: 35033471; PMCID: PMC8837656.

In this episode,  Zack interviews Florian Schmitzberger who just published a fantastic study that incorporates fourteen leaders within the ECPR community to hash out the specific procedural steps associated with ECPR.

INCLUSION
• Age <75 years
• Witnessed arrest
• Initial rhythm is shockable rhythm (VF / VT)
• ECPR can be initiated within 60 minutes of the arrest, though a longer interval may be considered circumstantially (e.g. hypothermic arrest)
• Aggressive ICU care consistent with patient wishes
• No prolonged downtime without CPR
• End-tidal CO2 ≥ 10 mmHg (unless pulmonary embolism is suspected)
• Treating physician/surgeon agreement to proceed
EXCLUSION
• Contraindication to anticoagulation
• Cannot perform activities of daily living at baseline
• Advanced comorbidities / known irreversible organ failure
• Advanced COPD or other pulmonary comorbidities
• Metastatic malignancy
• Major stroke or neurologic impairment
• Do-not-resuscitate / Do-not-intubate status

The Paper

Schmitzberger FF, Haas NL, Coute RA, Bartos J, Hackmann A, Haft JW, Hsu CH, Hutin A, Lamhaut L, Marinaro J, Nagao K, Nakashima T, Neumar R, Pellegrino V, Shinar Z, Whitmore SP, Yannopoulos D, Peterson WJ. ECPR2: Expert Consensus on PeRcutaneous Cannulation for Extracorporeal CardioPulmonary Resuscitation. Resuscitation. 2022 Oct;179:214-220. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2022.07.003. Epub 2022 Jul 8. PMID: 35817270.

This month Zack gives a few pearls from the recent Reanimate courses and annual ELSO meeting in Boston before he interviews Gowry Mork from Aarhus University about her fantastic recent paper.

• Pearl #1 is about hand placement in cannulation.  Hold the ultrasound in your left an
  d needle in right.  Once in the vessel, drop the US probe and take your left hand and gently hold the needle. With your right hand grab the wire far enough up to be to insert into the vessel in one push.
• Gowry’s paper has many interesting points.  Probably the biggest is the reasonable survivorship for prolonger arrests.  This is tied to equality of care for patient who live far from the closest ECMO center.

Gowry’s paper – 

Mørk SR, Bøtker MT, Christensen S, Tang M, Terkelsen CJ. Survival and neurological outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest treated with and without mechanical circulatory support. Resusc Plus. 2022 Apr 6;10:100230. doi: 10.1016/j.resplu.2022.100230. PMID: 35434669; PMCID: PMC9010695.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9010695/

Gowry’s Twitter

@MSivagowry –  https://mobile.twitter.com/msivagowry

This month we are honored to have Neville Vlok on the show.  Neville has been one of the key physicians pushing for ECPR in South Africa.  In this episode, we explore what medicine and resuscitation looks like in South Africa, how ECMO has been utilized, and whether ECMO even makes sense in developing countries.

Vlok N, Hedding KA, Van Dyk MA. Saved by the pump: Two successful resuscitations utilising emergency department-initiated extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation in South Africa. S Afr Med J. 2021 Mar 2;111(3):208-210. doi: 10.7196/SAMJ.2021.v111i3.15366. PMID: 33944740.

Using ECMO for traumatic patients has had some promising papers through the years, but the data overall is still poor.  Justyna Swol has teamed up with ELSO to improve this deficiency by making a trauma carve out of the ELSO registry.  In this episode, Zack discusses with Justyna the many facets of ECMO in trauma.  A few pearls and references are below:

• Anticoagulation in ECMO is not mandatory.  A reasonable strategy is heparinized circuit with a titrating dose of systemic heparin as necessary in the trauma patient.  This includes everyone from isolated pulmonary contusions to intracranial hemorrhage.
• VV-ECMO similar to ARDS in medical causes can be used and likely offers survival benefit to those patients with post traumatic lung injury.  Initiating early (maybe PaO2 of 80 on 100% FiO2) is likely best.
• ECPR can be done in the traumatic arrest.  Best when done in parallel to the other resuscitative needs of the patient.  Data is promising in case series.  Need for bigger data sets is clear.

In our last episode, Trina Augustin discussed whether we should use a blender in ECPR patients citing the Blender Trial. This month we got the first author of the Blender Trial, Aidan Burrell, to give us insight into the use of blenders for not only ECPR patients but also thoughts on patients on VA for cardiogenic shock and VV patients. Jon Marinaro interviews Aidan for this wonderful addition to this complex decision.

Blender Trial – Burrell A, Ng S, Ottosen K, Bailey M, Buscher H, Fraser J, Udy A, Gattas D, Totaro R, Bellomo R, Forrest P, Martin E, Reid L, Ziegenfuss M, Eastwood G, Higgins A, Hodgson C, Litton E, Nair P, Orford N, Pellegrino V, Shekar K, Trapani T, Pilcher D. Blend to Limit OxygEN in ECMO: A RanDomised ControllEd Registry (BLENDER) Trial: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan. Crit Care Resusc. 2023 Aug 4;25(3):118-125. doi: 10.1016/j.ccrj.2023.06.001. Erratum in: Crit Care Resusc. 2024 Feb 01;26(1):60. doi: 10.1016/j.ccrj.2024.01.003. PMID: 37876374; PMCID: PMC10581278.

Trina’s editorial – Augustin K, Shinar ZM, Dos Reis Miranda D. Correspondence by Augustin et al. regarding the article “Conservative or liberal oxygen targets in patients on venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation”. Intensive Care Med. 2025 Jan 21. doi: 10.1007/s00134-025-07791-7. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39836262.

The Netherlands has undertaken a monumental task: provide ECPR to 100% of their country.  Dinis Reis Miranda and his team have put in place an unbelievably organized and robust project to improve the survival from cardiac arrest for their entire country.  Listen to Dinis explain about the project, their struggles, and this world changing experiment going on right now in the Netherlands.

Here is their projects website and some of its content – https://onscenetrial.com/

In this short episode, Zack makes two points.  One, it was tough to get to where we are with ECMO acceptance.  Two, cardiac arrest patients in PEA should be considered for ECPR.  Below is the full editorial Zack and Alice did recently in the Journal of Resuscitation on the topic.  It was born out of a fantastic German article centered looking at registry outcomes for PE and ECMO.

Full Free Link to Editorial (until January 2022) – https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1eAXK_6ryqqpRd

Article link – https://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572(21)00403-2/fulltext

Get the Textbook from ELSO – ebook click here

Hardcover here

Have you ever pondered whether all the work over ECPR was worth it?  Even if you did save a few patients, does this really make sense from a societal standpoint?  Am I giving up my life on a project where my efforts could be better elsewhere?  Then this episode is for you (and me).  This month I talk with Melissa Barnes and Ryan Coute about the economics of cardiac arrest and specifically ECPR.  Ryan has just published a great paper in Resuscitation on the costs on OHCA.  We will talk with Ryan and Melissa Barnes, ECMO manager at Sharp Memorial Hospital about benefits and costs to society of OHCA and ECMO.  I learned several pearls from Ryan’s paper as well as a paper by Grosse that Ryan references.  Below are the links to both papers with a couple graphs to try to wrap your head around.

Coute

Economic loss of productivity of OHCA

Grosse

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6688510/

Here is the conclusion for the interview of Jan Belohlavek and his Hyperinvasive Trial

Wait…ECPR works?

To the believers, this has been a foregone conclusion.  To the rest of the world, the question of whether ECPR improves cardiac arrest survivorship has been in question. Jan Belohlavek and his Prague colleagues just presented their 8 year data showing better outcomes in cardiac arrest patients that got a grouped therapy of early transport, prehospital targeted temperature management, mechanical chest compressions, and ECMO over those who got a traditional resuscitation.  This study is key and contrasts to the Oslo study that we reviewed just a few months earlier.  Jan speaks with Zack about the details of the results and what were the keys to their success.

Hyperinvasive trial study proposal – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3492121/

Jan’s slides on Hyperinvasive Results

Heparin has been the mainstay of anticoagulation for ECMO patients for years.  In recent years, this has been challenged.  Bivalirudin has become a potential better anticoagulant.  Troy Seelhammer in EDECMO episode 55 gave us some insight into this.  This month Ryan Rivosecchi and his crew at UPitt have released their findings in Critical Care Medicine.  This retrospective study suggests great improvement in major bleeding in patients who received Bivalirudin compare to Heparin (40.7% vs 11.7%, p < 0.001).  Listen to Ryan and Zack discuss anticoagulant use in ECMO patients in this month’s episode.

Rivosecchi RM, Arakelians AR, Ryan J, Murray H, Padmanabhan R, Gomez H, Phillips D, Sciortino C, Arlia P, Freeman D, Sappington PL, Sanchez PG. Comparison of Anticoagulation Strategies in Patients Requiring Venovenous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: Heparin Versus Bivalirudin. Crit Care Med. 2021 Mar 15. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000004944. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33711003.

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In this episode, we dive into the abyss of resource allocation.  Much of the world is saying that the limited number of ECMO circuits should be used for COVID induced lung injury.  This means that ECPR initiatives have been shut down or severely limited.  Is this the right thing to do?  What does the data say?  What strategy gives the most benefit to the most people? Make sure to get CPR Certification Cleveland so you can always be prepared in case of any emergency.

Zack invited Brian Grunau to discuss these topics as well as a recent ECPR paper out of Norway and study dealing with signs of life during CPR. Find more information about CPR Certification Wichita to keep saving lives and helping people in need.

Oslo Study

Alm-Kruse K, Sørensen G, Osbakk SA, Sunde K, Bendz B, Andersen GØ, Fiane A, Hagen OA, Kramer-Johansen J. Outcome in refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest before and after implementation of an ECPR protocol. Resuscitation. 2021 Feb 10;162:35-42. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2021.01.038. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33581226.

Signs of Life Study

Debaty G, Lamhaut L, Aubert R, Nicol M, Sanchez C, Chavanon O, Bouzat P, Durand M, Vanzetto G, Hutin A, Jaeger D, Chouihed T, Labarère J. Prognostic value of signs of life throughout cardiopulmonary resuscitation for refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitation. 2021 Feb 17:S0300-9572(21)00077-0. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2021.02.022. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33609608.

January 1, 2021: The year following COVID19 Global Pandemic brings us a new horizon – lets appreciate what has happened, learn from our mistakes and begin to look forward.

In this episode Joe Bellezzo talks with Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) expert Dr. Zaf Qasim about NON-TRAUMA applications of aortic compression for control of non-compressible non-trauma torso hemorrhage.

Dr. Qasim is a world expert in REBOA and has been on the podcast:

edecmo.org/35 – REBOA revisited

edecmo.org/49 – the ACEP-ACS joint statement controversy

edecmo.org/59 – Partial REBOA

This episode is highlighted by a remarkable case, managed by Emergency Physician Dr. Garrett Sterling, of a 77 year old patient who suffered non-traumatic hemorrhagic shock from an Iliac artery pseudo-aneurysm that had fistulized to the urinary tract.  The patient was bleeding to death from a fistula between the common iliac artery and the ureter. You have to listen to Dr. Sterling describe this case. The patient was resuscitated with REBOA and her pathology was fixed by an Iliac Artery stent placed in Interventional Radiology. We discuss this case which highlights the benefit of REBOA as a bridge to definitive hemorrhage control.

Joe and Zaf talk about:

1. brief history of managing hemorrhagic shock with aortic occlusion
2. ‘Knee REBOA’
3. Resuscitative thoracotomy
4. REBOA in trauma
5. REBOA in non-trauma hemorrhagic shock

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29922894/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31799415/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32707397/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31668242/

https://tsaco.bmj.com/content/4/1/e000376

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29421694/

https://www.jsomonline.org/FeatureArticle/20202110O’Dochartaigh.pdf

2020 was a crazy year.  This month Zack goes through the biggest ECMO lessons learned in 2020.  This is a short concise run through of ECPR, ECMO for COVID, Imaging, and Aortic Dissection.  It’s a reminder of how organization is so critical to the outcome of your ECMO program.  He also reminds us how improvement in these systems of care can lead to survival rates even the believers in ECMO thought were unattainable.

The ARREST Trial is published!  Demetris Yannopoulos, Jason Bartos and their army of rockstars have done it!  This is the first randomized ECPR trial and it showed tremendous benefit of ECPR compared to traditional therapies.  Zack explores this paper and their concurrent publication of process with Demetris.   Their two Lancet papers are below

• https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32338-2/fulltext
• https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30376-X/fulltext

In the news, Jenelle Badulak and her crew at UW saved a hypothermic mountaineer in Seattle.  Story here.

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54959874

Demetris Yannopoulos and Jason Bartos

This seems like such a basic question and yet the answer is not an answer at all.  Rather it is an educated opinion.  Today we ask the question – Should we blend ECPR patients?

Here’s the basic problem.  We think hyperoxemia in critically ill patients is bad (Remember hyperoxemia is high oxygen in blood, hyperoxia is high oxygen in the tissue).  We think that hypoxemia in critically ill patients is bad.  So if a patient gets put on ECMO and we can make the oxygen level coming out of the machine whatever level we want, what level should we set it at?

Well, today, Trina Augustin teaches how this seemingly simple problem is actually quite complex.  Trina is an ECMO superstar.  She practices at Mayo in Rochester as CV Intensivist with a background in CC/EM.  She teaches the most complex part of Reanimate – post pump critical care and yes she cannulates patients as well.  Listen to Zack and Trina banter over this complex topic specifically focusing on the release of the Blender Trial.

EMCRIT ECMO Podcast with Trina that is awesome! – CV-EMCrit – MCS Minute Series: Differential Gas Exchange on Peripheral Femoral VA ECMO with Trina

Bibliography:

Winiszewski H, Guinot PG, Schmidt M, Besch G, Piton G, Perrotti A, Lorusso R, Kimmoun A, Capellier G. Optimizing PO2 during peripheral veno-arterial ECMO: a narrative review. Crit Care. 2022 Jul 26;26(1):226. doi: 10.1186/s13054-022-04102-0. PMID: 35883117; PMCID: PMC9316319.

Bureau C, Schmidt M, Chommeloux J, Rivals I, Similowski T, Hékimian G, Luyt CE, Niérat MC, Dangers L, Dres M, Combes A, Morélot-Panzini C, Demoule A. Increasing Sweep Gas Flow Reduces Respiratory Drive and Dyspnea in Nonintubated Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Patients: A Pilot Study. Anesthesiology. 2024 Jul 1;141(1):87-99. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000004962. PMID: 38436930.

Burrell A, Ng S, Ottosen K, Bailey M, Buscher H, Fraser J, Udy A, Gattas D, Totaro R, Bellomo R, Forrest P, Martin E, Reid L, Ziegenfuss M, Eastwood G, Higgins A, Hodgson C, Litton E, Nair P, Orford N, Pellegrino V, Shekar K, Trapani T, Pilcher D. Blend to Limit OxygEN in ECMO: A RanDomised ControllEd Registry (BLENDER) Trial: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan. Crit Care Resusc. 2023 Aug 4;25(3):118-125. doi: 10.1016/j.ccrj.2023.06.001. Erratum in: Crit Care Resusc. 2024 Feb 01;26(1):60. doi: 10.1016/j.ccrj.2024.01.003. PMID: 37876374; PMCID: PMC10581278.

Have you ever wondered about how initiating ECMO changes the cardiovascular physiology?  Have you wondered what metrics you should be looking at when resuscitating a patient that has a beating heart and a ECMO flow?  Dr. Sage Whitmore, an ED Intensivist from Nashville with ECMO training from UMichigan, leads us through the basic to the tough questions of ECMO physiology.online pharmacy

Have you ever wondered how you would crash someone onto VV ECMO?  Have you ever wondered where is the best place to put the cannulas?  Have stayed up late at night wondering which patients in your department could benefit from VV rather than VA ECMO?  Then this is the episode for you!!  After a few recent cases of crash VV ECMO in our hospital, we have decided to focus on the subject.  Zack gets critical care physician and ECMO director Dr. David Willms to answer from a very practical standpoint the who, what, where of crash VVECMO.

online pharmacy

Aortic Dissection recent paper and Editorial

https://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572(20)30309-9/fulltext

https://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572(20)30435-4/pdf

Aortic Dissection is a contraindication for ECMO….or is it?  In this episode, Zack Shinar and Garrett Sterling discuss the sticky topic of ECMO for aortic dissection.  They discuss a recent case where Joe Bellezzo, Karl Limmer, Craig Larsen, and the entire Sharp team save a Type A aortic dissection with cardiac arrest.

Zack and Garrett traverse the details around ECMO in aortic dissection ranging from VA ECMO in ECPR to VVECMO for pulmonary edema.  They go through the literature on the subject and make some conclusions based on this data. The ultimate question – “Is Aortic Dissection a Contraindication for ECMO?”

Joe’s interview of Michael – Great to hear his memory of the event.

Michael’s podcast on his experience – The Heart of the Matter

Hou XT, Sun YQ, Zhang HJ, Zheng SH, Liu YY, Wang JG. Femoral artery

cannulation in Stanford type A aortic dissection operations. Asian Cardiovasc

Thorac Ann. 2006 Feb;14(1):35-7. PubMed PMID: 16432116.

Kelly C, Ockerse P, Glotzbach JP, Jedick R, Carlberg M, Skaggs J, Morgan DE.

Transesophageal echocardiography identification of aortic dissection during

cardiac arrest and cessation of ECMO initiation. Am J Emerg Med. 2019

Jun;37(6):1214.e5-1214.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2019.02.039. Epub 2019 Feb 27.

PubMed PMID: 30862393.

Yukawa T, Sugiyama K, Miyazaki K, Tanabe T, Ishikawa S, Hamabe Y. Treatment of

a patient with acute aortic dissection using extracorporeal cardiopulmonary

resuscitation after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a case report. Acute Med

Surg. 2017 Dec 19;5(2):189-193. doi: 10.1002/ams2.324. eCollection 2018 Apr.

PubMed PMID: 29657734; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5891112

“Normal life is changing.  It is now a covid 19 life” – Bin Cao

I write this with some trepidation as well as pride in the role we all get to play in Covid 19.  The sure in the US and many other places worldwide is just beginning.  It is on us to seek guidance from those who have gone through this already.  Today we will address the use of ECMO in Covid with an expert in ECMO who is in the throws of the worst outbreak of the United States – Seattle, Washington.  Jenelle Badulak and I give you a short yet powerful discussion about what Covid patients should receive ECMO.

Take homes for decision to initiate- comorbidities (HTN, DM especially), single organ dysfunction, young age, trajectory of course

Hosts – Jenelle Badulak, Zack Shinar

ECMO guidance for Coronavirus

• MERS ECMO Data
  • Alshahrani MS, Sindi A, Alshamsi F, Al-Omari A, El Tahan M, Alahmadi B, Zein A, Khatani N, Al-Hameed F, Alamri S, Abdelzaher M, Alghamdi A, Alfousan F, Tash A, Tashkandi W, Alraddadi R, Lewis K, Badawee M, Arabi YM, Fan E, Alhazzani W. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for severe Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Ann Intensive Care. 2018 Jan 10;8(1):3. doi: 10.1186/s13613-017-0350-x. PubMed PMID: 29330690; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5768582
• Chinese Society of Extracorporeal Life Support. [Recommendations on extracorporeal life support for critically ill patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia]. Zhonghua Jie He He Hu Xi Za Zhi. 2020 Feb 9;43(0):E009. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.1001-0939.2020.0009. [Epub ahead of print] Chinese. PubMed PMID: 32035430.
  • http://rs.yiigle.com/yufabiao/1180132.htm
  • Inclusion criteria under this paper are–>
  • Under optimal ventilation conditions (FiO 2 ≥ 0.8, tidal volume 6 ml / kg, PEEP ≥ 10 cmH 2 O), ECMO can be started if there are no contraindications and one of the following conditions is met [ 7 , 8 , 14 , 16 , 17 , 18 ] : (1) PaO 2 / FiO 2 <50 mmHg for more than 3 h; (2) PaO 2 / FiO 2 <80 mmHg for more than 6 h; (3) FiO 2 = 1.0, PaO 2 / FiO 2 <100 mmHg; (4) Arterial blood pH <7.25 and PaCO 2 > 60 mmHg for more than 6 hours, and respiratory rate> 35 times / min; (5) When respiratory rate> 35 times / min, blood pH <7.2 The plateau pressure was> 30 cmH 2 O; (6) severe air leak syndrome; (7) combined with cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest.

• Good overall webinar – ECMO considerations start – http://iv.docbook.com.cn/record/app-name/46020/2020-03-19-20-45-14_2020-03-19-21-40-14.mp4
  • Slides here – Ning Zhou-The application of ECMO in severe Covid-19 patients
• ELSO Guidance Document

Last month you heard Jason talk about the ECPR program at the University of Minnesota.  This month Zack and Jason talk about post initiation care and the crazy ECPR realities that Demetris, Jason and U of M have created.  The sky is the limit for their team!

Jason Bartos and his crew at the University

of Minnesota have revolutionized the concept of ECPR for out of hospital cardiac arrests.  His crew are interventional cardiologists who take OHCA straight to the cardiac cath lab.  They have initiate times of around 6-8 minutes and have neurologically intact survival rates higher than 30%.  Below are two of Jason’s recent papers which every person who considers themselves an ECPR fan should pour over with a fine-toothed comb.  There is so much in these papers.  We split this interview into two pieces because there is so many pearls in it.

Outcomes

Resuscitation paper – 48% survival in 100 patients

Circulation paper 2020– 33% vs. 23% ALPS

• Cohort who had VF/VT and one shock vs. a cohort who had VF/VT and failed to ROSC at the scene, in the ambulance, and then all the way to the hospital.
• OHCA – > Straight to the Cath lab –> Get on ECMO –> Go to CCU under Cards care.
• Inclusion criteria – Vf/vt, lactate <18, paO2 >50,ETCO2>10

References:

     We’ve had some recent episodes on ECMO physiology.  Today’s episode focuses on the differences between ECMO physiology in the patient in cardiogenic shock versus the one in cardiac arrest. Scott Weingart talks with Zack about how the difference between these two patient populations is HUGE!  Scott also mentions details about cannulation and some critical post ECMO initiation pearls.

The Patient
1. OOH Cardiac Arrest Patients are Different

Cannulation
2. Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Placement
3. Wire choices
4. Wire Location Verification
5. Small arterial cannulae
6. Simpler Circuits

Post-Pump Critical Care
7. Find the Injuries
8. Mandatory leg perfusion
9. Lower Anticoagulation Goals
10. Lower Flow Goals
11. Try to avoid venting – Truby et al. PMID:28422817, less is more
12. Understanding Cardiac Prognostication / Stunning
13. Understanding Neuro Prognostication
14. Protection/Ownership
15. In it for the Long Haul

This month we discuss two different topics we’ve recently had on the podcast.  Albuquerque had started the first US prehospital ECPR program…. and now they have the first patient as well.  Jon and Darren will share with us the exciting news.  Second, we recently had Matt Martin on the podcast talking about partial REBOA.  We got tons of email about this.  This month Zaf Qasim and Austin Johnson come on to talk about some of the controversial aspects of partial REBOA.  Zaf also gives us a great update on the state of REBOA in the world.

The U.S. has seen pre-hospital programs spring up in Paris, UK, and Australia.  It was thought that due to billing issues this could never happen in America….but it has.  Jon Marinaro and Darren Braude have accomplished this against all odds.  Zack interviews the two of them on how they were able to accomplish this task amidst the many financial, logistic, and medical problems surrounding this monumental task.

The Albuquerque Bean Dip!!  Love this organization from cleanse to cannulation

News story

EDECMO episode 92 features Dr. Mark Dennis, a cardiologist from Sydney, who has published extensively in the field of ECPR.  Zack and Mark talk about so many subjects including pre-hospital considerations, algorithmic management of post ECMO initiation cardiac arrest patients, ventilation management of ECPR patients and much more.

Prof Dennis would like to thank all the ambulance paramedics, ED docs, intensive care specialists, surgeons, radiologists, nurses and cardiologists across Sydney. Without their support none of the work would be possible.

Also very special thanks to Natalie Kruit and Brian Burns for their immense efforts to bring ECPR to Sydney.

Blender Trial – Conservative or liberal oxygen targets in patients on venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation | Intensive Care Medicine

CO2 Drop in VA ECMO – ELSO Registry – Critical Care Medicine

Over the last several years, data has suggested that partial or intermittent REBOA may have benefit over complete REBOA.  How to do this and how to use our current imperfect catheters in this arena is still in question.  Dr. Matthew Martin and his colleagues at Madigan Medical Center have published the first study using Prytime’s new catheter for partial REBOA.  Zack interviews Matt in this episode about this latest paper in Journal of Trauma and Acute Surgery as well as several other papers he’s published in the field.  Dr. Martin is extensively published in the field and offers his insight in the specific flows that maximize survival within the conflicting problems of hemorrhagic shock and lower body ischemia.

Efficacy of intermittent versus standard resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta in a lethal solid organ injury model.

Kuckelman J, Derickson M, Barron M, Phillips CJ, Moe D, Levine T, Kononchik JP, Marko ST, Eckert M, Martin MJ.

J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2019 Jul;87(1):9-17. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000002307.

TITRATE TO EQUILIBRATE AND NOT EXSANGUINATE!: CHARACTERIZATION AND VALIDATION OF A NOVEL PARTIAL RESUSCITATIVE ENDOVASCULAR BALLOON OCCLUSION OF THE AORTA CATHETER IN NORMAL AND HEMORRHAGIC SHOCK CONDITIONS.

Forte D, Do WS, Weiss JB, Sheldon RR, Kuckelman JP, Eckert MJ, Martin MJ.

J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2019 May 21. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000002378. [Epub ahead of print]

Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta induced myocardial injury is mitigated by endovascular variable aortic control.

Beyer CA, Hoareau GL, Tibbits EM, Davidson AJ, DeSoucy ED, Simon MA, Grayson JK, Neff LP, Williams TK, Johnson MA.

J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2019 Sep;87(3):590-598. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000002363.

Selective Aortic Arch Perfusion with fresh whole blood or HBOC-201 reverses hemorrhage-induced traumatic cardiac arrest in a lethal model of non-compressible torso hemorrhage.

Hoops HE, Manning JE, Graham TL, McCully BH, McCurdy SL, Ross JD.

J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2019 Apr 18. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000002315. [Epub ahead of print]

A post arrest patient just got initiated on ECMO.  Do you give fluids, add pressors, or increase flow?  Marc Dickstein, an anesthesiologist from Columbia University and an expert in the physiology of ECMO, talks with Zack about how to manage these patients, what diagnostics we need and how to optimize your use of the machine.  This talk is a must for everyone starting ECPR in their departments.

Marc’s ECMO physiology website Harvi

Marc’s ASAIO article on ECMO physiology –

Dickstein ML. The Starling Relationship and Veno-Arterial ECMO: Ventricular Distension Explained. ASAIO J. 2018 Jul/Aug;64(4):497-501. doi: 10.1097/MAT.0000000000000660. PubMed PMID: 29076945.

Zack’s recent Resus Editorial on Impella

Do you give heparin to your ECMO patients?  Well, let’s rethink this.  This episode is All Things Anticoagulation!  Zack talks with Troy Seelhammer, an intensivist from Mayo Clinic Rochester.  He manages ECMO patients in his daily practice there.  He has become a master of the subject of anticoagulation and if you’re interested in other medicines you can visit a Canadian Pharmacy online for this.  He will talk about heparin, bilvalirudin, or maybe no anticoagulation.  We talk about how TEG can affect our management.  We talk about PCC and Protamine when bleeding just won’t stop.  He talks about the when to be aggressive and when to cut back.  Below is a wonderful synopsis of Troy’s thoughts on anticoagulation on pump.

Goal Heparin levels are far from perfect but some suggestions

APTT 1.5 to 2.5 times normal

ACT level – 180-220 seconds

Antithrombin Levels – next generation

Seelhammer doc on Bivalirudin – Bivalirudin & TEG During ECMO

In this episode, Sacha Richardson talks with Zack about a problem common to all ECPR programs- how do we confirm the placement of the wires?  During chest compressions and even in patients with a pulse, confirmation of which vessel you have cannulated can be difficult.  Sacha shares some tricks and trips on how to get real time confirmation of the wires.  Sacha also gives us a preview of some of the exciting endeavors that he has undertaken in Melbourne with pre-hospital ECMO.

In this episode, we again explore the world of the distal perfusion catheter.  You heard from Joe Dubose the vascular surgeons point of view; now let’s see how non-surgeon resuscitationists are dealing with this problem.  You will hear from Chris Couch, a critical care trained emergency physician from Dallas Texas and his colleague Omar Hernandez who have some novel thoughts and experiences related to when and how we insert these catheters.  You will hear about checking compartment pressures, poor man’s way to “fluoro” your catheter, and much more.

Great summary of supporting literature – DPC Lit Search

Episode 53 is all about the distal perfusion catheter12.  We are inserting a 15-19 Fr catheter into the femoral artery.  This limits the flow of blood to the affected extremity.  Many institutions have gone to mandatory distal perfusion catheters.  This episode is all about those catheters – when, how, which, and where.  Joe Dubose, the world reknown vascular and trauma surgeon, joins us to discuss the details of this important piece of post pump initiation.

Take Homes –

• Common Femoral -> Superficial Femoral Artery or Posterior Tibial/Dorsalis Pedis
• Check distal perfusion frequently
• 5-7 Fr Catheters
• Doppler/Temperature/Color of distal extremity
• Remember side port of arterial ECMO catheter significantly limits the flow dynamics through the catheter

1,23456

We’ve all heard of therapeutic hypothermia.  Some of us have heard of deep hypothermia for traumatic arrest.  But what about deep regional hypothermia of brain for cardiac arrest!  Zack interviewed Rob Schultz, a CT surgeon resident from Calgary who is doing research on deep hypothermia of the brain using some of the tactics that are utilized in operating room.  His stuff is mind blowing!

References