Prehospital invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring in critically ill patients attended by a UK helicopter emergency medical service– a retrospective observational review of practice

Abstract Background Accurate haemodynamic monitoring in the prehospital setting is essential. Non-invasive blood pressure measurement is susceptible to vibration and motion artefact, especially at extremes of hypotension and hypertension: invasive arterial blood pressure (IABP) monitoring is a potential solution. This study describes the largest series to date of cases of IABP monitoring being initiated prehospital. Methods This retrospective observational study was conducted at East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA), a UK helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS). It included all patients attended by EAAA who underwent arterial catheterisation and initiation of IABP monitoring between 1st February 2015 and 20th April 2023. The following data were retrieved for all patients: sex; age; aetiology (medical cardiac arrest, other medical emergency, trauma); site of arterial cannulation; operator role (doctor/paramedic); time of insertion and, where applicable, times of pre-hospital emergency anaesthesia, and return of spontaneous circulation following cardiac arrest. Descriptive analyses were performed to characterise the sample. Results 13,556 patients were attended: IABP monitoring was initiated in 1083 (8.0%) cases, with a median age 59 years, of which 70.8% were male. 546 cases were of medical cardiac arrest: in 22.4% of these IABP monitoring was initiated during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. 322 were trauma cases, and the remaining 215 were medical emergencies. The patients were critically unwell: 981 required intubation, of which 789 underwent prehospital emergency anaesthesia; 609 received vasoactive medication. In 424 cases IABP monitoring was instituted en route to hospital. Conclusion This study describes over 1000 cases of prehospital arterial catheterisation and IABP monitoring in a UK HEMS system and has demonstrated feasibility at scale. The high-fidelity of invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring with the additional benefit of arterial blood gas analysis presents an attractive translation of in-hospital critical care to the prehospital setting.