Cross-country transfer between two children's hospitals of a child using ambulatory extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for bridge to lung transplant

Abstract

With a limited number of pediatric lung transplant programs, the transfer of patients will be required for appropriate candidates. Pediatric patients have been successfully transferred using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) with no previous reports using ambulatory single-site venovenous (VV) ECMO via a bicaval dual-lumen (BCDL) catheter as a method for transport to a lung transplant center in order to bridge to lung transplantation. Therefore, we present the successful transfer of a 13-yr-old female on ambulatory VV ECMO between two free-standing children's hospitals and then bridged to bilateral lung transplantation.

Keywords: bridge; cross-country; extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; interhospital transfer; lung transplantation; venovenous.