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.
Mandy Langfield
Mandy Langfield is a Director of Palladium Media Partners and former Publishing Director at Voyageur Group. She has written extensively on international travel and health insurance, medical assistance provision, and air medical transportation. She was Editor of AirMed&Rescue from December 2017 until April 2021. Her favourite helicopter is the Chinook, having grown up near an RAF training ground.