Emergency medical service SAMU de Paris has achieved an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rate that they say is four times the global average, through a rescue therapy called ECPR, according to a June 8 report. Previously largely confined to hospitals, deployment on Paris streets has been supported in part with the help of handheld ultrasound technology and augmented reality glasses from international health tech company Mindray.
Known as extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation, ECPR temporarily replaces the function of the patient’s heart and lungs, keeping them alive so clinical teams have time to act. Doctors, nurses, and paramedics within SAMU de Paris mobile ECMO teams have been among the first in the world to deploy it beyond hospitals and have taken this rescue therapy onto city streets. This approach provides more time for patients who would otherwise die before reaching hospital care.
This method has resulted in a 38% survival rate for patients treated by mobile units at home or in public spaces in Paris—approximately four times higher than global averages for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. Cardiac arrest remains a leading cause of death worldwide; delayed treatment can be crucial between life and death. Survival decreases by 7-10% for every minute without effective circulation, according to the American Heart Association, which also reports 3.8 million out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur globally each year with an average survival rate of 8-10%.
SAMU de Paris focuses ECPR on cases where conventional advanced life support fails, providing early intervention that avoids potentially fatal delays. Professor Lionel Lamhaut, professor of emergency medicine at Paris Descartes University and head of the ECMO team in Paris, said: “When advanced life support fails, you have no other choice when the patient is dying on the scene. If we win time, we win life. This is a game‑changer in cardiac arrest. Some patients with more than 60 minutes of cardiac arrests are alive. That means they can resume their lives, continue to work, and go back home with their family.”
In high-stress environments such as public spaces or homes, mobile ECMO teams rely on wireless handheld ultrasound devices (TE Air) and Air Realm AR glasses provided by Mindray for precise cannulation—a process requiring millimeter accuracy—and remote support from hospital clinicians viewing real-time images from afar. Lamhaut said: “The major complication…is when cannulas are not in the artery and vein…but…the cannula is in the wrong vessel…Everything can succeed or fail by one millimeter.” He added: “With TE Air and AR glasses…we can visualise the puncture site in real time…More procedures are correctly done with the glasses…and that means we have more lives saved.”
Achievements by SAMU de Paris have been recognized internationally as services elsewhere adopt similar approaches.
