It fits easily inside a backpack and, thanks to its small size, it can ‘fly’ even on a small drone. It is called, not surprisingly, ‘Hummingbird‘, and is the lightest life-saving device, capable of temporarily replacing the heart and lung function of adult, pediatric, neonatal patients, usable during extreme rescue operations. To announce its arrival on the market, on the occasion of the 36th edition of the European congress Eacts 2022 (European association for cardiothoracic surgery), underway in Milan was Eurosets, a biomedical company in Medolla, in the province of Modena.
There are about 400 thousand cases of cardiac arrest in Europe every year with survival rates of 5% -10%, a note recalls. Ecmo devices (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) will be increasingly used in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures within the ‘chain of survival’, creating a real life-saving pathway for cardiac arrest. It is hypothesized that thanks to the use of these devices the survival rate can reach 60%.
Colibrì is equipped with a magnetic levitation centrifugal pump and a device capable of artificially oxygenating the blood. Its minimal size, ergonomics and the possibility of being placed inside a special wearable backpack, also equipped with a winch hook, allow it to be transported extremely easily wherever the patient is, thus making the system more versatile in terms of its application area. In addition to the extreme portability and the ability to temporarily replace the functions of the heart and lung – the company further details – Colibrì allows advanced monitoring of the procedure in progress, and is equipped with a Wi-Fi connection that allows observation. of vital parameters even remotely, thus ensuring greater safety and reliability for healthcare professionals. The device is currently undergoing controlled introduction in some selected European centers – concludes the note – at the end of which a commercial launch will follow, open to the entire European and international market.