After 2 deaths at Brooklyn Half Marathon, ECMO resuscitation device will be placed at finish line * Brooklyn Paper

"An ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine will be housed in the medical tent on the Coney Island boardwalk, along with a specialized ECMO team. Both the device and the team are on loan from Maimonides Medical Center. Since 2022, two people have died during or immediately after the RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon, a 13.1 mile race from Prospect Park to Coney Island."

"ECMO is "sort of a last-ditch effort for a person in cardiac arrest who does not respond to normal resuscitative measures," said Dr. Matt Friedman, NYRR Medical Director and Emergency Medicine attending physician at Maimonides. A team of five people - led by Dr. Paul Saunders, head of the ECMO program at Maimonides - insert catheters into the body to pump blood into the machine."

"The machine removes carbon dioxide, adds oxygen, and sends the re-oxygenated blood back into the body, essentially temporarily replacing the heart and lungs. The patient would immediately be loaded into a specialized ambulance and rushed to the Intensive Care Unit at Maimonides, Friedman said. The hospital will have another ECMO machine on standby."

"Friedman suggested placing ECMO at major races last summer, said NYRR race director Ted Metellus, after learning of a few other races around the world that do the same. Road Runners had an ECMO machine at the finish line of the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon, Friedman said, but it was not used."

A new ECMO resuscitation device will be placed at the finish line of the RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon, with a specialized ECMO team in the medical tent on the Coney Island boardwalk. The ECMO machine and team are loaned from Maimonides Medical Center. Since 2022, two participants have died during or immediately after the race, including suspected cardiac arrest near the finish line in 2022 and a cardiac arrest around Mile 8 in 2022. ECMO is intended as a last-resort option when normal resuscitation measures fail. A five-person team will insert catheters to circulate blood through the machine, oxygenate it, remove carbon dioxide, and return it to the body. The patient would be transported immediately to Maimonides’ intensive care unit, where another ECMO machine will be on standby.

Read at Brooklyn Paper