Expanding lifesaving cardiac arrest care in Minnesota through the ECMO Center of Excellence
Every minute, someone in the United States experiences sudden cardiac arrest outside of a hospital. Their chance of survival is less than 12%, according to the American Heart Association.
ECMO, which stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, can improve a person’s chances of survival by temporarily supporting their heart and lungs during and after cardiac arrest. The life support machine adds oxygen to a person’s blood and pumps it throughout their body, restoring critical blood flow to the brain and other organs while doctors work to identify and treat the cause of cardiac arrest.
For decades, M Health Fairview experts have been leaders in the use of ECMO to save lives across Minnesota. M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center is home to one of the largest ECMO programs in the country and has treated nearly 900 cardiac arrest patients in the past five years, with a 35% survival rate.
We’re excited to grow and further the reach of our lifesaving ECMO program with a grant of more than $10 million from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Through this gift, we are launching a new ECMO Center of Excellence which will continue to improve survival outcomes for people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest.
“The ECMO Center of Excellence and Fairview’s commitment to advancing the MMRC will redefine emergency heart care and improve cardiac arrest survival rates,” said James Hereford, president and CEO of Fairview Health Services. "We are grateful for the generous support of Helmsley Charitable Trust, helping us to bring lifesaving care to more Minnesotans.”
Expanding ECMO capacity at our medical center
Early next year, we will open a dedicated ECMO Intake Center at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center to meet the growing demand for this lifesaving therapy. The new center will increase our capacity to rapidly provide ECMO support to patients who arrive at our hospital experiencing cardiac arrest.
“The chances of surviving cardiac arrest after 30 or 40 minutes are seven to eight times higher with ECMO than without,” said Demetris Yannopoulos, MD, a cardiologist with M Health Fairview and director of resuscitation medicine at University of Minnesota Medical School. “Our goal is to get patients to this lifesaving treatment as quickly as possible.”
We are also nearly doubling the number of cardiac intensive care beds at the medical center, allowing our cardiac intensive care team to treat and support 500 to 600 patients each year. A key component of the ECMO Center of Excellence includes additional state-of-the-art technology to improve quality outcomes and advance research.
“This high-tech program is revolutionizing cardiac care across Minnesota, and increasing ECMO capacity at M Health Fairview will save even more lives,” said Walter Panzirer, a trustee for the Helmsley Charitable Trust. "This approach will soon become a model for the rest of the nation and around the globe.”
Bringing ECMO into the community
As ECMO capacity expands at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview is also growing the Minnesota Mobile Resuscitation Consortium (MMRC), now under Fairview’s ownership. MMRC is a first-of-its-kind community-based mobile program that aims to provide Minnesota with the highest survival rates in the world for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
MMRC operates a fleet of SUVs and a mobile ECMO truck that is able to initiate ECMO on site. The partnership between Fairview and MMRC will expand the lifesaving care model in the Twin Cities, greater Minnesota, and five-state region.
“Expanding access to care in underserved and rural areas remains a critical priority for Fairview,” Hereford said. “We’re thrilled to partner with the Helmsley Charitable Trust in our shared mission to create a healthier future for all Minnesotans.”
MMRC will continue its partnership with hospitals and emergency medical services and will expand ECMO cannulation sites to all M Health Fairview hospitals in the metro area. Teams at these sites will be able to initiate ECMO before transferring their patient to our ECMO Center of Excellence for further treatment.
Shaping the future of treatment
As part of the vision for the ECMO Center of Excellence, Helmsley will fund the development of a training hub, based at the Center for Resuscitation Medicine at the University of Minnesota, to support ECMO education for physicians and surgeons in the five-state region.
“Thanks to the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the M Health Fairview ECMO Center of Excellence and its work to educate and train health care professionals in this field will demonstrate how academic medicine can help expand the reach of innovative care like ECMO,” said Jakub Tolar, MD, PhD, dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School and vice president for clinical affairs.
M Health Fairview's commitment to innovate and advance cardiac care comes as demand for ECMO treatment is expected to rise. In 2015, there were 350 patients in the Minneapolis metro area who received treatment through MMRC. By 2021, that number grew to over 500 patients, according to data from the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES).
This 42% increase in patient volume over six years is a direct result of the intentional training effort by MMRC to educate first responders in recognizing the signs and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest. Additionally, with ECMO patient volumes expected to grow by 2% each year as the population ages, we’re committed to helping Minnesotans beat the odds against sudden cardiac arrest – today and for generations to come.
