B.C. study aims to triple survival rate of cardiac arrest patients

When Genya Kaplun suffered a cardiac arrest at his home inthe West End, it took doctors three and a half hours of CPR to savehim. Under normal circumstances, he would have been pronounced dead at his house.

"They tried to revive me and they couldn't," he said. "I was just lucky the emergency physician said 'No!Bring him in.'"

ER doctors brought Kaplun back to life using a groundbreakingmedical treatmentknown as extracorporealmembrane oxygenation-cardiopulminaryresuscitation, or ECMO-CPR,that bypassed his cardiac arrest.

Only a few peoplehave been saved by the same technology but a new study being conducted bySt. Paul's Hospital and B.C. Emergency Health Services is looking to prove just how effective it can be.

"It's a paradigm shift in how we treat cardiac arrests," said Dr.William Dick, vice president of medical programs at BCEHS, adding that only 14 per cent of out-of-hospitalcardiac arrest patients survive using current treatments.

"We think we can probably triple the rate of survival in the right patients with this technology."

Getting from A to B

According to Dick, the goal of the study is to make ECMO-CPR treatment the new norm. But getting patients to the hospital is extremely difficult, because CPR must constantly be provided en route to the hospital.

"It's literally almost impossible to safely and effectively transport a person in cardiac arrest in a moving ambulance or down a set of stairs, and do effective, manual CPR," said Dick.

To solve this problem, five localground ambulances will now be equipped with the Lucas 2 machine a mechanical device that is strappedto patients to give them CPR while paramedics transport them to the hospital.

Although other hospitals in Canada have ECMOCPR, the emergency room at St. Paul'sis the first and only one in Canada outfitted withECMO therapy, according to Dick.

With files from Rafferty Baker