Flying with a Safety Net: Use of REBOA to Enable Safe Transfer to a Level 1 Trauma Center

Abstract

Background: Using Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) during air and ground transport requires coordination among the responding clinical team, transport team, and receiving surgical team. Here we describe the development of a REBOA transport program in a civilian medical system that demonstrates the value of REBOA as part of the toolkit for safe casualty transport.

Methods: The regional REBOA program was developed at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center (SASMC) in a multi-step planning and training process to ensure coordination among the facilities and transport resources during trauma patient care. Retrospective record review was performed on all patients (n = 5) that received REBOA for transport from the Level 3 Trauma Center to the Level 1 Trauma Center, since the inception of the program in March 2019. Data were gathered from hospital electronic medical records.

Results: SASMC has transported five trauma patients under the REBOA program; all successfully arrived at the Level 1 Trauma Center to receive definitive care. The integrated arterial blood pressure monitoring capability in the REBOA catheter provided robust physiologic data to enable data-driven interventions during transport.

Conclusions: The REBOA program described here is a model of how REBOA can be used to enable safe transport between levels of care when, without REBOA, such transport might not be possible. The model is applicable during care of civilian trauma patients and combat casualties, where injured patients are initially treated in a prehospital or Role 1/2 environment but require transport to a Level 1 Trauma Center or Role 3+ for definitive care.