Critical Care Appeal raising lifesaving funds for Mobile ECPR

This year’s Critical Care Appeal is fundraising to support Mobile ECPR, an advanced form of life support which takes over the function of the heart and lungs for patients in the community after cardiac arrest.

When 43-year-old Melbourne dad Mark Wohlers suffered a cardiac arrest, it was the swift response from his wife and emergency services, and an Australian-first clinical trial that gave him a second chance at life.

“I went into cardiac arrest on a day when the Mobile ECPR trial was running, and my wife happened to ring and put me in touch with emergency services right before I crashed the car out of the front of my house,” Mark said.

“The ambulance then pulled up behind and got me out, and the ECPR team shortly followed.”

Central to the trial is an advanced form of life support called ECMO (Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation). Commonly only offered in specialist hospitals, ECMO is a machine that can take over the function of the heart and lungs.

Trial co-lead and intensive care specialist Dr Sacha Richardson said his team had been using ECMO for years in the hospital, but technological advancement meant the machines were now small enough to take to the streets.

“CPR and defibrillation are still the mainstay of cardiac arrest response, but a person’s chance of survival falls to less than five per cent if you can’t restart their heart within 30 minutes,” Dr Richardson said.

Under the trial, two experienced ECMO-trained Alfred intensive care specialists travel with paramedics to a patient identified as a potential candidate.

“In Mark’s case the intervention was lifesaving. We were able to attend the scene, insert the ECMO to bypass his heart, and get him to The Alfred where his coronary artery was unblocked, and his heart was restarted.

“We are hopeful our current trial – and possible further and larger trials – will show the practice is feasible, and that it can significantly increase the chances of survival after cardiac arrest in the community.”

The Critical Care Appeal is an annual fundraiser which helps The Alfred continue to provide the most critical and complex care to Victorians.

For more information or to donate please visit www.alfredappeal.org.au