Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for Refractory Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
WHAT IS THE EROCA STUDY?
The current standard practice for treating of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is to perform CPR and advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS) at the scene until either the heart is restarted or resuscitation efforts are considered hopeless and discontinued. This practice is supported by fact that all currently proven CPR therapies can be delivered by paramedics in the field. However, promising new experimental strategies have emerged and are only feasible in the hospital.
An alternative strategy is early transport of patients to the emergency department with ongoing CPR so that advanced resuscitation strategies can be performed that cannot be offered outside the hospital. One such strategy is extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR). ECPR requires placement of catheters (tubes) in large blood vessels and a machine to take over the work of the heart and lungs until the heart can be restarted. The purpose of study is to examine the feasibility and potential benefit of early transport of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients with ongoing CPR to an ECPR-capable emergency department.
EROCA Study BrochureCardiac Arrest vs. Heart Attack
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For questions regarding the study, please contact the EROCA Study Team at 734-615-4626 or email [email protected]
In The News
Dr. Neumar talks about Sudden Cardiac Attacks with Lucy Ann Lance 
Click on the Annals of Emergency Medicine icon
above to read the EROCA Study published article
Public Notification of Completion of the EROCA Clinicial Trial