Successful interhospital transfer for extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation of a patient who had a cardiac arrest after cesarean section

Background: Studies describing the effectiveness of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) for peripartum cardiopulmonary arrest are lacking.

Case presentation: A 39-year-old woman underwent elective cesarean section. Right after surgery, she fell into a cardiac arrest and was promptly transferred to our institute by ambulance. On arrival, we immediately initiated ECPR, within 63 min of the cardiac arrest. Return of spontaneous circulation was achieved 80 min after induction of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. As the hemodynamics of the patient stabilized, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was discontinued on day 3 of hospitalization. The patient's cerebral performance category score was 3 at discharge, which improved to 2 after 3 months.

Conclusion: This case suggests that prompt interhospital transfer and ECPR might be effective for peripartum cardiac arrest due to nonhemorrhagic events.