Based on the rescue of a 26-year-old man from The Remarkables skifield who had been buried in an avalanche, the simulation showed how lives could be saved by using the machine.
Similar to the heart-lung bypass machine, an ECMO machine takes over the work of the heart and lungs when they are too compromised to function properly, but can be used outside operating theatres.
Blood is pumped around in an external circuit and through a membrane which removes carbon dioxide and adds oxygen, essentially acting like a lung, to give the body a rest.
The conference, the largest of its kind, marked a major step forward in more equitable access to the life-saving medical equipment.
Symposium organiser Dr Stefan Wiebe, an intensive care consultant at Dunedin Hospital, said the artificial heart-lung machine had been used for the past 20 years in New Zealand via a "really well-run service in Auckland".
However, the need for the service was increasing exponentially, as was the need for better access to it across the country.
"It’s sometimes very important to initiate treatment very, very early, and we can’t always wait for an Auckland team to fly down south, or even to Wellington or Christchurch."
The conference attracted 12 international medical heavyweights, including doctors from the United States’ Mayo Clinic and Duke University, Guy’s and St Thomas’ in the United Kingdom, Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital and Maastricht University, in the Netherlands, working alongside 30 New Zealand medical professionals with a focus on collaboration and training specific to ECMO.
Melbourne’s Dr Vincent Pellegrino, Alfred Hospital’s head of ECMO clinical service, said some of the most "spectacular rescues" involving the machine had been seen with avalanche survivors, but it could also be used for patients who had gone into hypothermic cardiac arrest following near-drowning incidents, had suffered heart attacks, were severely ill with Covid, or had pneumonia.
Dr Wiebe said, at present, there were two ECMO machines at Dunedin Hospital, which was sufficient.
"[But] the event we’re all scared about, especially here, is if we have patients in an avalanche, or a capsized boat ... If a boat with five people capsizes, and we have two machines, then we are in a little bit of a situation here.
"That’s what this networking is about, to utilise resources ... so we can provide surge capacity if it’s needed."
For people who had suffered hypothermic cardiac arrest, ideally, treatment should be initiated within 60 minutes, he said.
