Successful 2,000-Kilometer International Transfer of an Infant Receiving Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Severe Respiratory Failure

Kilian Brown; Ben Dunne; Marino Festa; Erik La Hei; Jonathan Karpelowsky; Hayden Dando; Yishay Orr

doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2016.01.037

Successful 2,000-Kilometer International Transfer of an Infant Receiving Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Severe Respiratory Failure

Ann Thorac Surg. 2016 Aug;102(2):e131-3. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2016.01.037.

Authors

Kilian Brown¹, Ben Dunne², Marino Festa³, Erik La Hei⁴, Jonathan Karpelowsky⁴, Hayden Dando², Yishay Orr⁵

Affiliations

¹ Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
² Heart Centre for Children, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ Department of Paediatric Intensive Care, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ Department of Paediatric Surgery, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁵ Heart Centre for Children, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: yishay.orr@health.nsw.gov.au.

PMID: 27449448
DOI: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2016.01.037

Abstract

There is minimal reported experience with long-range retrieval of pediatric patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support. We report the case of a 10-month old boy with necrotizing staphylococcal pneumonia complicated by a bronchopleural fistula, who was successfully retrieved and transported while receiving ECMO to our unit in Sydney, Australia, from a referring hospital 2,000 kilometers away in the Pacific Islands. He was successfully weaned from ECMO to receive single-lung ventilation after 13 days, and he underwent surgical repair of his bronchopleural fistula through a thoracotomy 3 days after decannulation. He has made a full recovery.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Bronchial Fistula / complications
Bronchial Fistula / surgery*
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation / methods*
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Infant
Internationality*
Male
New South Wales
Pacific Islands
Respiratory Insufficiency / diagnosis
Respiratory Insufficiency / etiology
Respiratory Insufficiency / therapy*
Severity of Illness Index
Thoracotomy / methods
Transportation of Patients / methods*
Treatment Outcome