title: Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Transport by EC-145 With a Custom-Built Sled.
abstract: Indications for the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in pediatrics has expanded beyond the initial historic treatment of neonates with respiratory failure. Patients with severe refractory cardiopulmonary failure may benefit from ECMO support until the primary insult has subsided or been treated. More recently, ECMO has been used by some centers as a bridge to transplant for irreversible organ failure. Nationwide Children's Hospital is a referral center that supports the use of ECMO as a bridge to transplant and is able to provide transport services for ECMO patients referred for transplant evaluation. In this report, we describe our design of a unique, custom-built sled designed specifically for the EC-145 helicopter to transport pediatric ECMO patients to our institution. This report is the first, to our knowledge, to describe the safe and successful transport of a pediatric ECMO patient in an EC-145 helicopter.
authors.affiliation: Nationwide Children's Critical Care Transport Team, Clinical Lead of Operations, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA. Electronic address: Philip.holt@nationwidechildrens.org.
authors.forename: Philip L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Holt
authors.affiliation: The Heart Center, Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Ashley B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Hodge
authors.affiliation: The Heart Center, Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ratliff
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: W Joshua
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Frazier
authors.affiliation: Metro Aviation Incorporated, Shreveport, LA, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ohnesorge
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Samantha W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Gee
mesh_terms: D017732:Air Ambulances; D002648:Child; D015199:Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000628:therapy; D014187:Transportation of Patients / Q000379:methods*