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Cardiac arrest

Physician-led prehospital ECPR: small eligible subset

Emergency Medical Services Physician-Led Activation for Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
Prehospital Emergency Care · Added 30 July 2026

Observational cohort testing an EMS physician-led prehospital ECPR activation protocol for refractory VT/VF cardiac arrest — only 4.3% of 347 OHCA patients were eligible, ECPR was activated in 66.7% of eligible patients, and 40% of the activation group survived to discharge with good neurological outcome.

Study type

Cohort

Design

Observational cohort of an EMS physician-led ECPR activation protocol

Participants

347 adults with non-traumatic OHCA, North Carolina, one year

Main finding

Only 15/347 (4.3%) were ECPR-eligible; activated in 10/15 (66.7%); cannulation in 5/10; 40% (4/10) of activation group survived to discharge, all CPC 1; 3/5 non-activated eligible patients survived

Caveat

Single EMS agency, one year, very small numbers

Bottom line

Hypothesis-generating

Learning goal

Weigh which refractory cardiac arrest patients truly benefit from prehospital ECPR activation pathways.

More

• Topic: Cardiac arrest
• Daily scan: 30 July 2026

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