Golden Time for Severe Cardiovascular Patients in Gangwon: Responding with ECMO Procedures Within 60 Minutes

For patients with severe cardiovascular diseases where the heart or lungs fail to function properly, the life-support device ECMO plays a decisive role. To overcome the delays in travel time that can occur due to the characteristics of the Gangwon region, Hallym University Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital operates an organically integrated medical system that allows for ECMO procedures within 60 minutes after arrival at the emergency room.

ECMO, which replaces the functions of the heart and lungs; the key to treatment is "correcting the cause"

According to Professor Park Gyu-tae of the Department of Cardiology at Hallym University Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital, ECMO is a machine that temporarily replaces the roles of the heart and lungs when heart function is lost due to cardiogenic shock or myocardial infarction. While assisting the functions of the heart and lungs through ECMO, medical staff perform procedures to clear blocked heart vessels or combine it with ventilator treatment to recover lung function. Afterward, once the heart and lungs have sufficiently recovered, the ECMO is removed.

The most important criterion for deciding on an ECMO procedure is "whether the cause of the patient's cardiac arrest can be corrected through ECMO treatment." This is because ECMO is a procedure that places a heavy physical burden on the patient and requires the cooperation of multiple medical staff members. In the case shown in the video, a 47-year-old male patient who experienced cardiac arrest along with chest pain in the early morning recently was able to fully regain consciousness and move to a ward through angiography and stent treatment immediately after arriving at the emergency room.

From the emergency room to the intensive care unit, a one-stop system continuing within 60 minutes

Due to the geographical characteristics of the Gangwon region, travel time for patients with severe heart disease can be long, making rapid response more important than anything else. The Regional Emergency Medical Center of Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital is equipped with a "one-stop system" where the Department of Emergency Medicine holds the patient's life while the Department of Cardiology is immediately connected to begin the procedure. By shortening the time from when a patient enters the emergency room doors to when they receive the procedure to within 60 minutes, they actively perform vascular treatment for acute myocardial infarction patients.

This organic cooperation system is the key driver for increasing patient survival rates. According to the video, the survival rate for ECMO treatment at the hospital is recorded at over 85%. Professor Park Gyu-tae mentioned that as warning signs of acute myocardial infarction, pain that feels like it is pressing down on the center of the chest or pain that moves toward the left shoulder may occur, and urged people to call 119 without delay. To prevent situations where cardiac arrest occurs or kidney function declines due to delayed treatment, initial response is most important.