Paramedic PapersHome Cardiac arrest Most ECPR-eligible London OHCAs can't reach ECMO in time
Cardiac arrest
Most ECPR-eligible London OHCAs can't reach ECMO in time
Assessing accessibility to the extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation pathway for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in London
Resuscitation Plus · Added 8 September 2026
Geospatial analysis of five years of London Ambulance Service OHCA data — of 776 patients meeting ECPR eligibility criteria, only 3% could reach an ECMO-capable centre within the 45-minute target, and stretching it to 60 minutes would lift access by 217%.
- Study type
- Cohort
- Design
- Retrospective geospatial and pathway modelling study
- Participants
- 776 ECPR-eligible OHCA patients over five years of London Ambulance Service data
- Main finding
- Only 3% (23/776) were estimated to reach an ECMO-capable centre within 45 minutes during operating hours; extending the threshold to 60 minutes increased access by 217% (50 additional patients), with extending operating hours (+104%) and broader criteria (+52%) also helping.
- Caveat
- Modeled estimates from routine data in a single urban system
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (Medium relevance). transferability — no prehospital ECPR pathway in the ACT, but a sobering look at how eligibility on paper rarely equals access in practice
Learning goal
Understand how geography and transport times shape access to ECPR for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Australia.
More
- Topic: Cardiac arrest
- Daily scan: 8 September 2026
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