Record-breaking ECMO flight repeated
The second successful mission by Central American air ambulance firm Jet Rescue has proved that long-distance extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) transfers can be undertaken safely
Jet Rescue Air-Ambulance repeated it's world record civilian ECMO flight by transporting a 58-year-old male patient from Clinica Oca Monterey Mexico to the National Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea.
"The patient developed acute respiratory and cardiac failure secondary to Covid-19,” explained Dr Victor Cervantes, Medical Director of Jet Rescue. “This is the second time in three months that our medical team has performed this challenging transport.”
Critical care over long-distances
“The fact that Jet Rescue is flying ECMO missions a regular basis to Asia is a testament to our unique critical care transport skills and equipment. We are trusted by payers and families who need urgent transport of critical cases," commented Carlos Salinas, CEO / COO of the critical care fixed-wing international air medical company. “Our team and equipment are simply the best in the business,” concluded Salinas.
The ECMO machine is a portable heart-lung bypass machine that pumps and oxygenates the patient’s blood, allowing the lungs and heart to rest.
Jet Rescue performed the first long-distance ECMO mission in August 2020. The flight in question transported a 56-year-old female patient, a citizen of South Korea, who was hospitalized in Hospital Muguerza in Monterrey, Mexico with lung failure due to pulmonary fibrosis (secondary to Covid-19). Life-saving lung transplantation in her homeland was the only viable option to save her life.