Life support program at Medical City Plano earns top international honor

Plano, Texas — Medical City Plano has earned recognition among the best in the world for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy, one of the most advanced forms of life support available to patients with heart and lung failure.

Medical City Plano earned the elite Platinum Level Center of Excellence Award from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO), an international nonprofit that provides leadership in ECMO therapy. Designation as a Platinum Level Center of Excellence honors ECMO programs for extraordinary achievements reaching the highest level of evidence-based performance, innovation, satisfaction, quality outcomes, advance staff training and ongoing clinical care for patients with cardio-respiratory system failure. Of the approximately 1,000 ECMO programs in the world, less than 50 have achieved Platinum Level.

Medical City Plano has provided ECMO therapy to patients since 2019 and serves more than 100 patients each year. In December 2022, the hospital partnered with Plano Fire-Rescue to train and deploy advanced, life-preserving ECMO therapy measures in the field prior to arrival at the hospital. The in-hospital and out-of-hospital programs’ quality outcomes and survival rates are better than ELSO benchmarks and among the top in the world for both respiratory and cardiac support.

“This designation underscores our commitment to advancing care through innovative technology and processes that benefit our patients and community,” says Ben Coogan, CEO at Medical City Plano. “Our Level I Trauma Center, board-certified critical care physicians, expert clinicians and compassionate care teams are among the many reasons that Medical City Plano is the destination of choice for patients and first responder partners.”

ECMO is a highly advanced form of life support that temporarily replaces the function of the heart and lungs by mechanically oxygenating blood outside the body, allowing the organs to rest. The therapy may be used for patients who have suffered:

• Cardiogenic shock, when the heart can’t pump enough blood
• Heart attack
• Respiratory failure

Medical City Healthcare is uniquely positioned to provide ECMO across its North Texas systems of care. Because of the technology and skill required to use it, only a few hundred hospitals nationwide have the ability to perform ECMO, including Medical City Children’s Hospital, Medical City Heart Hospital (ELSO Gold Level), Medical City Fort Worth (ELSO Silver Level) and Medical City Plano (ELSO Platinum Level). Additionally, Medical City Healthcare has an advanced rapid ECMO deployment team that can provide portable therapy and transport from facilities that do not have ECMO capability.