Emergency air crews with AirLift Texas can now perform specialized transport of cardiac patients requiring intra-aortic balloon pumps.
Flight nurses and paramedics at AirLift Texas bases in Waco and New Braunfels, have been trained to use the Getinge cardiosave hybrid balloon pump device during air transport, according to a July 17 news release from Air Methods, the parent company of AirLift Texas.
Air transport can offer physicians and care teams a safer and faster way to find appropriate cardiac care for critically ill patients with IABPs, the release said.
Cardiologists surgically place an intra-aortic balloon into a patient's aorta when the heart is ineffectively pumping blood. The monitoring, stability and response capabilities needed for such patients can make transporting them difficult.
"Cardiologists are gaining the ability to place these devices within smaller hospitals, but they must rely on critical care transport teams to transfer patients to larger hospitals capable of providing more advanced cardiac treatment," Joel Ramirez, area manager with Air Methods, said in the release.