Deployment of "Eckmoker" to 20 locations nationwide for patients with severe corona disease on July 23, 18:21

The ECMO, an artificial heart-lung machine that is said to be the last fortress that connects the lives of severely ill patients with the new coronavirus. Given that there is a shortage of large ambulance transport vehicles for patients with this ECMO, the Japan Society of Intensive Care Medicine requested the country to deploy it at 20 locations nationwide.

The artificial heart-lung machine "ECMO" is a device that extracts blood from the patient's body and sends oxygen directly to it, and is used for critically ill patients with the new coronavirus, and is said to be the final life-saving citadel.

According to the Japan Institute of Intensive Care Medicine, there are more than 2000 ECMOs nationwide, but doctors and nurses with specialized knowledge are required, and not all of them can be operated at the same time.

During the first wave, there are many cases where there are no ECMOs in neighboring hospitals and patients are transported to distant hospitals.

A large ambulance carrier called "ECMO Car" was used to transport patients who need this ECMO, and patients can be transported while wearing the ECMO.

However, there are only a few in Japan, and the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine will deploy one at 20 locations nationwide, as there is a risk that some patients may not be able to be transported if the number of seriously ill patients increases due to re-infection. I asked the country.

"The ECMO is limited in number, so it may be necessary to transport it to a distant hospital over a long period of time, so an Emo car is indispensable," said Fujita Medical University professor. As the outbreak spreads again, there is a risk that regional transport will increase again, and we should proceed with the deployment before now."

What is "Exmoker"?

Large ambulance transport vehicles called "Exmocars" have a wider interior than ordinary ambulances and can carry patients with ECMO.

Even if a doctor, a nurse, or a clinical engineer gets on board and troubles such as filter clogging occur during transportation, we can immediately respond.

Since ECMO consumes a lot of electricity, it also has a spare battery.

According to the Japan Society of Intensive Care Medicine, there are only a few ecmocars nationwide, and during the first wave, patients were sometimes transported from Aichi prefecture to Tokyo.

The man saved by "Exmoker"

How is this exmoker actually used? This year, a 71-year-old man, who was transported by Ekmokar in February, responded to an NHK interview.

A man and a couple boarded a cruise ship "Diamond Princess" where a mass infection occurred and were infected with the new coronavirus. After leaving the ship in mid-February, I was transferred to a hospital in Nagano Prefecture, but the symptoms worsened and I needed an artificial heart-lung machine "ECMO".

However, there was no "ECMO" in the hospital where I was hospitalized, so my doctor requested the Maebashi Red Cross Hospital in the neighboring Gunma prefecture to accept it.

Maebashi Red Cross Hospital dispatches an Emo car. An ECMO was attached to a man, and doctors and nurses boarded it and transported it over 200 kilometers from Nagano, taking about 3 hours.

Post-hospital symptoms improved in men. After that, the PCR test was negative, and in April I was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital.

“I think I was able to recover to this point, but I think I saved my life thanks to the transportation by the Emocar,” he said.

Dr. Hiroyuki Suzuki of the Advanced Critical Care Center, Maebashi Red Cross Hospital said, “I think it was difficult for me to carry without an Emo car because my man's condition had deteriorated. There is a risk that ECMO will run short in a specific area in the future. In that case, Ekmokar is indispensable."