Mechanical Life Support

The official twitter account for the multi-award winning 🏆 Mechanical Life Support 🫀programme. Visit our website for more information. @RBandH @GSTTnhs 🇬🇧

[Vas Panoulas @VPanoulas]

Pleased to share !!!

https://t.co/jZDBibZ8yr

[Waqas Akhtar @DrWaqasAkhtar]

UK multisociety consensus statement on the emergency management and resuscitation of patients with left-sided Impella support

🫀Recognition of cardiac arrest
🏥 Team structure
🕵️ Early troubleshooting

https://t.co/XJir9cMR3F

[Waqas Akhtar @DrWaqasAkhtar]

🇬🇧 UK VA ECMO and ECPR data

📆 2012-22

🏥 All 13 centres

2117 VA runs, 45.5% survival
302 ECPR runs, 30.5% survival

https://t.co/6SJSMxXO0v

[ELSO @ELSOOrg]

◾️In Memoriam of Robert H. Bartlett, MD 1939-2025
Without Dr. Bartlett, there is no ECMO: he saved more than 100,000 patients through his life’s work. He changed the world.
He will forever be the Father of ECMO.
Vale, Dr B
🔗 https://t.co/RyDvDyXIsw
🎥 https://t.co/Vd4zvjI319

[M Velia Antonini @FOAMecmo]

Weaning from VA #ECMO: which approach best reflects true cardiopulmonary reserve??
🔄 PCRTO: retrograde flow through pump, creating controlled VA shunt mimicking native physiology (with regular #POCUS + invasive PAC monitoring), challenging RV + reducing LV afterload + enabling assessment of native lung function
🔍 pilot study: pump-controlled retrograde trial off feasibility, safety, physiological insights vs conventional weaning (reducing EBF to around 1 LPM, leaving residual RV unloading/LV afterload)
🫀 criteria for readiness-to-wean: resolution of underlying cause of CS, evidence of improving renal/hepatic perfusion, lactate  <  2 mmol/L, MAP  >  60 mmHg, pulse pressure  > 15 mmHg, improving LVOT VTI, absence of severe mitral or tricuspid regurgitation
PCRTO appeared feasible, safe, informative complement to conventional weaning. In scenarios with advanced cardiac disease/borderline cases, its loading challenge added relevant information that impacted decision-making on short and long-term strategies ie
- unmasking RV failure, biventricular compromise, respiratory deterioration prompting additional optimization
- unmasking underlying defects enabling pre-explant repair
- confirming stable haemodynamics/pulmonary function supporting safe weaning, avoiding premature escalation to durable #MCS
@Crit_Care
🔓 https://t.co/B4EoKczDPy

[Waqas Akhtar @DrWaqasAkhtar]

British societies guideline on management of emergencies in patients on ECMO

🫀Recognition of cardiac arrest
🏥 Team structure
🕵️ Early troubleshooting

@BritishCardioSo @FICMNews @ICS_updates @BACCNUK @SCTSUK @BSHeartFailure @ResusCouncilUK @ACTACCUK

https://t.co/oGllN3rgHI

[American College of Cardiology @ACCinTouch]

📰 Increasing VA-ECMO Flow Rarely Raises PCWP in Patients With Cardiogenic Shock

Read the journal scan for more ➡️ https://t.co/26v6b7hYzn

#JACC #HeartFailure

[Waqas Akhtar @DrWaqasAkhtar]

2025 @ICU_Harefield

Summer Legends 🎸🍗🍦🍹

ECPR 🏆

[Mechanical Life Support @MLSCourse]

Summer ☀️ @MLSCourse at Harefield

Over 1000 trained at dedicated resuscitation courses for LVAD, Impella and ECMO!

[British Journal of Hospital Medicine(BJHM) @BJHMoffice]

📣Review Sharing:

🧾Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Reviewing the Evidence and Exploring Its Equitable Implementation in the UK National Health Service

👩‍🔬@DrWaqasAkhtar, Nicholas A Barrett @GSTTnhs

💡Full Text: https://t.co/P6zaSTfMxZ

#ECPR #ECMO #resuscitation

[Harefield Echocardiography @Echo_Harefield]

🫀 Here’s Case Two from our Cardiac Mass Series—'How well do you know cardiac masses?' 🧐

Watch the video till the end, test your skills, and drop your diagnosis below. ⬇️

Think you’ve cracked it? Find out in the next video! 🎥

#CardioTwitter #EchoChallenge #FOAMed #MedicalMystery

[Tim Balthazar @TimBalthazar]

1/We should consider the additive benefits of #GDMT during MCS for #Cardshock. Recently, we looked at the effect of implementing a protocol for aggressive GDMT uptitration during @jjmt_heartrecov Impella support. There is a free link (only 50 first) to the publication in the end

[Mechanical Life Support @MLSCourse]

@teddyhla @RBandH @DrWaqasAkhtar The A team at today’s @MLSCourse! @RBandH @GSTTnhs

[Teddy Hla @teddyhla]

Great day seeing friends and learning about LVAD, impella, Ecmo with @MLSCourse at @RBandH with @DrWaqasAkhtar #MLS #MCS #ECMO #ECLS highly recommend the MLS course

[Royal Brompton and Harefield @RBandH]

Meet Emanuele, Harefield Hospital's lead nurse for critical care education and workforce, and critical care associate lecturer.

Find out more about his role and why he chose to specialise in mechanical life support in critical care.

Read Emanuele's Q&amp;A: https://t.co/gIqADAaBPp

[London's Air Ambulance Charity @LDNairamb]

For the first time ever in the UK, we are bringing ECMO to the streets of London, offering hope to patients in cardiac arrest.

https://t.co/MbBtwIWuGd

[Sean Scott @GomorraDoc]

Congratulations to @EduardArgudo and the @vallhebron #ECPR team for winning the @EuroELSO cannulation cup.

I was surprised by the floppy wires but impressed with their skill.

Floppy vs stiff wire for ECPR?

[Mechanical Life Support @MLSCourse]

The 2025 @EuroELSO cannulation cup winners are Barcelona!

@ECMOHUVH @EduardArgudo @mariamtnezm

Thank you to all the teams for sharing their experience in cannulation and ECPR teamwork!

[Mechanical Life Support @MLSCourse]

Come see Milan compete at the @EuroELSO Cannulation Cup 2025 in 15minutes central hall!

@SRAnesthesiaICU @tscquizzato @pacoitaly

[Mechanical Life Support @MLSCourse]

Hope to see you @EuroELSO for the 2025 Cannulation Cup!

Additional MLS Advanced course dates just released for 2025 at Harefield Hospital: https://t.co/tR9UCJFbbN