UTHealth Houston’s Emergency Department ECMO Program Saves Man with Heroic Resuscitation Effort
On Jan 6, Eric Herdejurgen, a 48-year-old operator for an oil company here in Houston, TX had severe chest pain after getting off of his exercise bicycle at home. He immediately notified his wife, a nurse at Memorial Hermann’s Heart and Vascular Institute (HVI). She called 911, and for Eric, everything started going black. Upon EMS’s arrival, they discovered Eric was having a massive heart attack and found him in critical condition.
Eric’s first day after extubation on January 12, 2022
During the ambulance ride, Eric went into cardiac arrest (complete cessation of cardiac function). He underwent over 45 minutes of CPR and defibrillation attempts and was transported to the emergency room with Memorial Hermann’s Life Flight Helicopter Team. In the Emergency Department, Eric continued to receive life-saving resuscitation for an additional 30 minutes, for a total of over 75 minutes of CPR, after which he finally regained a pulse. Unfortunately, it was not long-lived, and he continued to go in and out of cardiac arrest, literally clinging to life.
As a result of the dire situation, the Emergency Medicine Team mobilized the Advanced Heart Failure Team and together made the decision to immediately place Mr. Herdejurgen on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), in the Emergency Department. Emergency Department ECMO is a heroic effort for the most critical of patients and only achievable with complex coordination between specialists at a select few institutions. ECMO kept blood flowing when Mr. Herdejurgen’s damaged heart could not, providing life-sustaining oxygen to his vital organs, especially his brain and heart. He was rushed to the cardiac cath lab where he was found to have a 100% occlusion of his left anterior descending artery. A stent was successfully placed in the artery to restore blood flow and Mr. Herdejurgen was able to be taken off ECMO. He spent 3 weeks in the hospital and made a complete recovery going back home with his wife and four children.
Eric’s first day in the IMU (Immediate Care Unit), Jan 14, 2022
“For a patient to be in cardiac arrest for over an hour, placed on ECMO, and then survive completely neurologically intact is amazing,” said Dr. Nathan Hoot, the emergency medicine attending physician who treated Eric upon his arrival into the ED. “It’s a true testament to the value of the team effort that is involved in caring for critically sick patients. This remarkable outcome was possible due to the high functioning system of care including our EMS rescuers, nursing staff, emergency physicians, cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, intensivists, perfusionists, and respiratory therapists all working seamlessly together to implement the ECMO therapy so quickly.”
Dr. Richard Witkov, an Emergency Medicine-Critical Care physician who has worked diligently to expand Memorial Hermann and UTHealth’s ECMO capability for out of hospital cardiac arrest, further explained, “It takes a village, but thanks to the partnership between Memorial Hermann Hospital and UTHealth as well as the dedicated leadership of Dr. Biswajit Kar (Chief, Medical Division, Center for Advanced Heart Failure, Memorial Hermann Hospital), Dr. Igor Gregoric (Chief and Program Director, Surgical Division, Center for Advanced Heart Failure, Memorial Hermann Hospital), and Dr. Bentley Bobrow (John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished Chair of Emergency Medicine) we are extremely excited to be at the leading edge bringing ECMO to the Houston community to save even more lives.”
The UTHealth Department of Emergency Medicine, Memorial Hermann Heart and Vascular Institute, and Houston Fire Department are embarking on the first “mobile” ECMO program in Houston which will allow them to perform life-saving ECMO for pre-hospital patients where they collapse in an effort to dramatically improve cardiac arrest survival.
Eric’s first day home on Jan 29, 2022
Mr. Herdejurgen is grateful to be recovering at home with his family and plans to return to work soon. From home, he wrote a message to the providers that cared for him, “I would like to thank Bindu George at HVI, Dr. Hoot, Dr. Basra, Dr. Nascimbene, and the entire health care team for their swift action to put me on ECMO…I would also like to thank Dr. Kar and the cath lab team…the fast-acting ECMO placement in the ER helped save my life..The technology you possess can make miracles possible. I am living proof. Thank you for not giving up on me.”