Transportation of patients under extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support on an airliner: Flying bridge to transplantation.

BACKGROUND

A retrieval programme was developed in Martinique (French West Indies) to provide extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for patients in the Caribbean, where heart transplantation and ventricular assist devices are not available. In 2011, the Department of Cardiac Surgery at the University Hospital of Fort-de-France (Martinique) developed a transfer programme to Paris (France) on an airliner, to refer patients for whom extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was not weanable to heart transplantation or a ventricular assist device.

AIM: To report this unique experience of transportation of patients under extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support on an airliner from the French West Indies to Paris.

METHODS

This was an observational and retrospective study of all patients under extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support who were transferred from Martinique to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital/Sorbonne University in Paris between September 2011 and September 2019. Transport characteristics, complications during repatriation, cost and clinical outcomes at 30days and 1year were reported.

RESULTS

Twenty-six patients were transferred on an airliner; the retrieval distance was 7260km, and the mean duration was 14hours. Only two patients developed complications (pulmonary oedema and leg ischaemia), and no patient died during the flight. Nine patients had a ventricular assist device implanted, and six patients were transplanted. Thirty-day survival was 65.4%, and 1-year survival was 38.5%.

CONCLUSIONS

Transport under extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support on an airliner is safe and efficient, with an acceptable cost. This programme allowed patients under extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in a remote centre, without access to transplantation or a ventricular assist device, to be referred for these techniques in specialized centres. This experience strengthens the strategy of developing regional networks around specialized extracorporeal membrane oxygenation centres.