Newswise — Imagine this: a loved one collapses, their heart suddenly stopping. Every second feels like an eternity. In these terrifying moments, knowing that a hospital is equipped with the most advanced life-saving techniques, and teams who know how to use them, can mean the difference between life and death. Just ask any one of the nearly thousand Americans a day who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest, according to the American Heart Association.
It is these cases that inspired Joseph P. Underwood, M.D., MHCDS, FACEP, acting chief medical officer of Hackensack Meridian Hackensack University Medical Center, to start a special multidisciplinary program to respond to patients whose hearts suddenly stop.
Late last year, Hackensack University Medical Center’s Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (ECPR) Program was formally launched under the direction of Dr. Mark B. Anderson, chair, Cardiac Surgery and ECMO Program Director; in collaboration with Dr. Vishal Jani, D.O., ECPR physician lead and VA-ECMO Medical Director; Dr. Yuriy Dudiy, Surgical Director of the ECMO Program; Dr. Andrew Amaranto, vice chair of Operations in Emergency Medicine; and Duke Harvey Lagtapon, BSN, RN, CCRN, CHFN, ECMO program coordinator.
Composed of a team of emergency medical technicians (EMT’s), emergency department physicians, cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, perfusionists, intensivists and specialized nurses, the new program provides the right devices and infrastructure to deliver a beacon of hope for patients in the community who experience sudden cardiac arrest and on whom the conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has failed to work to recover the heart.
What exactly is ECPR?
Think of it as a lifeline for your heart. When traditional CPR isn’t enough, ECPR steps in as a powerful tool. It involves a specialized therapy, called an ECMO, short for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, that uses a pump that works as a heart-lung bypass machine to temporarily take over the functions of the heart and lungs, circulating oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. This buys precious time for the care team to diagnose and treat the underlying cause of the cardiac arrest, potentially preventing what could have been a tragic outcome.
Why is the ECPR Program at Hackensack University Medical Center so important?
- Few in the State: Hackensack University Medical Center’s ECMO Program is one of only a few in New Jersey to offer this kind of service to our region.
- Time is muscle: In cardiac arrest, every minute counts. The ECPR program ensures that patients arriving at hospital’s emergency department have immediate access to this life-saving technology.
- Expert team: The dedicated teams including emergency medical services, cardiologists, surgeons, nurses, and perfusionists who are highly trained in ECPR to provide the highest level of expertise and care.
- Cutting-edge technology: The team utilizes an advanced and intuitive alert system to activate and communicate to the key players of an impending ECPR case. This allows time for the ECMO team to assemble to the ED prior to patient arrival for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. This early activation process is one of the key elements ensuring the best possible outcomes for these patients.
Studies show that ECPR can significantly increase the chances of survival with good neurological function for patients experiencing cardiac arrest, especially when initiated early in the appropriate candidates.
By providing stable blood flow and oxygenation during cardiac arrest, ECPR allows for the return of circulation and ensures oxygen-rich blood supply to the organs including the brain, potentially leading to better neurological function post-arrest.
Setting up and maintaining an ECPR program requires significant resource investment in equipment, education and training across the different systems of care involved including EMS, ED, CathLab and critical care teams.
Because success of ECPR depends on the rapid response and skilled interventions of EMS personnel in the field, during National EMS Week, it is even more important to highlight the crucial role that EMS plays in the survival chain to ensure patients get to the hospital’s ECPR team as quickly as possible.
“The launch of the ECPR Program at Hackensack University Medical Center reinforces our commitment to providing the highest quality care for our community,” said Dr. Underwood. “We believe that everyone deserves a fighting chance, and this program empowers us to give patients the gift of time – and potentially, the gift of life.”
