Transatlantic veno-venous ECMO bridge for lung transplantation

This report details the challenging journey of a 58-year-old male with a progressive fibrotic lung disease who needed a lung transplantation (LTx). Residing on the remote island of St. Eustatius, access to specialized medical care was limited, but he was entitled to receive appropriate medical care in the Netherlands. Collaborative efforts among medical teams across the world resulted in a successful transatlantic transport of the patient on awake veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (vv-ECMO) to the Netherlands. A successful LTx was performed without complications. This case shows that vv-ECMO flight transport, when conducted by an experienced team, is a safe procedure for highly selected lung transplant candidates.