Medical City Frisco, Medical City Plano expand life-saving cardiac care
Frisco, Texas — When cardiac arrest strikes, every second counts. For Frisco-area residents, world-class care is now available closer to home at Medical City Frisco, the first Frisco hospital to deploy extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) in partnership with Medical City Plano. ECPR is an advanced form of cardiac emergency support used when traditional CPR is not enough to restart the heart.
Beginning in April, local paramedics will be able to activate teams at Medical City Frisco and Medical City Plano while en route with a patient experiencing cardiac arrest who qualifies for ECPR. This close and timely coordination with first responders allows specialized teams from Medical City Plano’s extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) program and Medical City Frisco’s emergency services department to jump into action and quickly prepare for the patient’s arrival, reducing the time to start critical, life-saving therapies. According to the American Heart Association, ECPR intervention can improve survival rates and patient outcomes.
Mobile ECPR allows Medical City Plano’s ECMO team to bring advanced cardiac intervention capabilities directly to Medical City Frisco, bringing this life-saving therapy to patients previously out of range. In critical cases when minutes matter most, patients who previously may not have had access to ECPR can now receive this life-changing intervention. This is the only mobile ECPR program in North Texas and the only intra-system program in the country.
“When a person experiences cardiac arrest, whether at home, at work or in the community, every minute matters,” says Ken Stevens, CEO of Medical City Frisco. “Bringing ECPR to Frisco means our community now has access to some of the most advanced cardiac life support available. This investment in technology combined with the expert, compassionate care of our frontline teams reflects our commitment to system wide excellence and innovation.”
ECPR uses a highly advanced life-support system called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). In simple terms, ECMO temporarily takes over the work of the heart and lungs by mechanically circulating and oxygenating blood outside the body. This gives doctors time to treat the underlying cause of cardiac arrest while protecting vital organs.
ECMO therapy may also support patients facing:
- Cardiogenic shock when the heart cannot pump enough blood
- Heart attack
- Respiratory failure
ECPR can be used to treat patients aged 18-75 who meet specific clinical criteria, thus improving care delivery across generations.
Medical City Healthcare is uniquely positioned to provide ECMO across its North Texas systems of care. Because of the technology and skill required to use it, only a few hundred hospitals nationwide have the ability to perform ECMO, including Medical City Children’s Hospital, Medical City Heart Hospital (ELSO Gold Level), Medical City Fort Worth (ELSO Silver Level) and Medical City Plano (ELSO Platinum Level). Additionally, Medical City Healthcare has an advanced rapid ECMO deployment team that can provide portable therapy and transport from facilities that do not have ECMO capability.