Mobile Ecmo Team For Inter-Hospital Transportation Of Patients With Ards: A Retrospective Case Series

Introduction: Transport of patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is currently available in 5 referral centers in our country.Methods: Retrospective case series of patients managed by our mobile extracorporeal membrane oxygenation team and transferred to San Gerardo University Hospital from December 2004 to December 2012.Results: 42 patients were transported. The mean age was 42.11 (standard deviation +/- 18.11) years, with a range between 2 years and 70. 14 patients were females (33%) and 28 males (67%). The average transport distance was 121.69 km (+/- 183.08) with a range between 9 km and 1044 Km. The mission's mean time was equal to 508 minutes (+/- 185) with range of 120-960 minutes. 29 patients (69%) were transported with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support, while 13 patients (31%) were transported with conventional ventilation. In 28 patients (97%) a veno-venous bypass was utilized, while in one case (3%) a Veno-Arterial cannulation was performed. 32 patients survived (76%) and have been discharged alive from hospital. No major clinical or technical issues were observed during the transport.Conclusions: According to our data, we conclude that a dedicated mobile team allowed safe ground transportation of patients with severe acute lung injury to our tertiary care institution.