Hospital Materno team from Malaga helps save two-year-old Badajoz girl
The paediatric Ecmo protocol unit for children in a critical condition travelled to Extremadura to attend to the little girl who had suffered an acute respiratory failure
Hospital Materno Infantil in Malaga was declared one of the three national reference centres (CSUR) for the transport between hospitals of children or babies requiring life support with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (Ecmo). On 16 November, a medical team from this hospital demonstrated the success of this operation by travelling to Badajoz to attend to a two-year-old girl who had suffered a respiratory failure.
Regional minister of health Antonio Sanz referred to this case at a press conference in Malaga on Sunday. "The transfer culminated with the arrival of the doctors at 7am," he said.
The girl is "stable" in the ICU after receiving care according to the Ecmo protocol from the Malaga team
The minister explained that, while the little girl is in the intensive care unit, her condition is "stable", thanks to the rapid application of the Ecmo protocol. Sanz congratulated all the medical professionals who had participated in the operation.
According to the minister, the Ecmo team "can save more than 84% of children". The other two centres specialising in CSUR in Spain are the 12 de Octubre in Madrid and the Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona.
Only one in Andalucía
Materno Infantil in Malaga is the only hospital in Andalucía, Murcia, Alicante, Badajoz, Ceuta and Melilla that can transfer patients in this condition. There are 14 Spanish hospitals with paediatric Ecmo therapy, three of which are in Andalucía: Reina Sofía, Virgen del Rocío and Regional de Málaga, although only the Materno hospital can coordinate these transfers in the area.
Since 2017, the Materno has carried out 21 Ecmo transports from other centres, 19 of which have been primary (the team travels to the hospital of origin, starts the Ecmo and transfers the child). These transports have been carried out both in Andalusian hospitals and in remote regions such as Castilla y León and Extremadura.
Ecmo is a life support technique that temporarily replaces cardiac and/or pulmonary functions in patients with reversible multi-organ failure. It is a highly complex intervention, requiring multidisciplinary teams, advanced technical infrastructure and immediate response capacity.
