ECMO and COVID-19

In 2010, Jay was one of the earliest adult patients to be saved by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) when he suffered severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) as the result of pneumonia.  Today, ECMO is being used around the world for patients with severe lung failure, including in the fight against COVID-19.  We hope that you will consider supporting the Shiland-Maringer Fund for the Advancement of Adult ECMO at NewYork-Presbyterian, which is dedicated to the advancement of this life-saving technology for use in critically ill adults suffering lung failure in unthinkable numbers today.

JAY’S STORY

While on vacation with his family in March 2010, Jay developed flu-like symptoms which, over the next six days, did not improve.  As soon as he returned to New York, Jay went to the Emergency Department at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs and admitted into the ICU. Within 48 hours of being admitted, Jay was sedated and intubated on a ventilator.  Over the course of the next two weeks in the ICU, Jay’s condition continued to worsen and he developed severe ARDS.

It soon became apparent to Jay’s medical team that utilizing ECMO might be his only chance to survive. At the time, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center was one of only a handful of hospitals in the country using ECMO for critically ill adult patients like Jay.  The pulmonary critical care doctors at NYP/Weill Cornell reached out to their colleagues at NYP/Columbia to see if Jay was a candidate for ECMO.  After initially rejecting Jay because he was sicker than the then-existing protocols allowed, the NYP/Columbia team ultimately agreed to put Jay on ECMO as a last resort.  There were no other options to keep him alive.

On April 10, 2010, the NYP/Columbia team put Jay on ECMO and transported him by ambulance from the Cornell ICU up to the Columbia ICU.  He remained on ECMO for ten days, during which the doctors were able to reduce the amount of his mechanical ventilation, thereby allowing his incapacitated lungs to recover.

After a total of six weeks in a medically-induced coma, and another three weeks of acute rehab, Jay was finally able to go home at the end of May.  He returned to work the following September, amazingly having made a full recovery.

Grateful for the persistence and compassion that their “family” of doctors, nurses, and other caregivers provided during Jay’s nine weeks in the hospital, Elizabeth and Jay established the Shiland-Maringer Fund for the Advancement of Adult ECMO at NewYork-Presbyterian.  The Fund supports the ECMO team’s efforts to promote the use of ECMO for critically ill adults through technological innovation, education, and collaboration with ECMO centers across the U.S. and around the world.

THE ADULT ECMO PROGRAM AT NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN

When Jay had his lifesaving experience at NewYork-Presbyterian in 2010, very few medical centers in the country were aware that ECMO could be used to bridge patients like Jay through critical illness and acute respiratory failure.  Despite doubts that many physicians had at the time about the efficacy of ECMO for critically ill adults, NewYork-Presbyterian was a leader in the use of this innovative technology.

Today, NewYork-Presbyterian has one of the largest and most active ECMO programs in the world, and is on the cutting edge of both research and clinical application.  The NewYork-Presbyterian Adult Medical ECMO Program has now:

• Cared for more than 500 patients
• Transported more than 250 patients to NewYork-Presbyterian from other hospitals for ECMO
• Supported more than 140 patients with chronic lung disease as they waited for a lung transplant
• Transformed outcomes for patients with severe ARDS who are not responsive to treatment using mechanical ventilation

Thanks to the work of the NewYork-Presbyterian team, hospitals around the world now accept ECMO as a treatment option for patients who, like Jay, are suffering from ARDS, which which kills more Americans each year than breast cancer.

Now more than ever, the use of ECMO and related technologies is critical in helping to combat ARDS caused by emerging respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19.  The NewYork-Presbyterian ECMO Program leads the way in educating institutions, in the U.S. and abroad, about the latest advances in ECMO and assists them in their efforts to combat this global health crisis.

Your donation to the Shiland-Maringer Fund for the Advancement of Adult ECMO supports research and education that will improve the use of ECMO at NewYork-Presbyterian and around the world.  During this unprecedented pandemic, your generosity will also provide much-needed direct support to the NewYork-Presbyterian ICU team fighting COVID-19.

Links:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00134-018-5125-9
https://www.nyp.org/clinical-services/ecmo-program