PRESS RELEASE 14.12.2018

Twelve university hospitals set up pan-European recruiting network with more than 45 cardiovascular centres to test early ECMO in patients with cardiogenic shock once and for all

An extensive network of the foremost cardio-vascular hospitals from nine European countries are working together in the EURO SHOCK trial to determine the efficacy and cost benefit of very early ECMO in patients with cardiogenic shock. On 12th December 2018 investigators gathered at the Royal Society of Medicine in London for the last preparations before the trial begins. The recruitment target is to randomise more than 400 patients in 34 months starting from 1st February 2019. 
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Every year across Europe more than 50’000 patients are diagnosed with Cardiogenic Shock. Women and the elderly are at highest risk to this severe condition, which is a complex and hemodynamically diverse state of end-organ hypoperfusion.

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The last major breakthrough in this domain dates from almost 20 years ago, when it was proven that urgent reopening of the occluded coronary artery causing the myocardial infarction leading to the development of cardiogenic shock.

Despite several more recent attempts to improve survival of this patient population, no new evidence-based therapeutic interventions known to improve patient outcomes significantly have been introduced during the last years. Because the majority of patients with cardiogenic shock end up with multisystem organ failure, at current, the mortality rate for this condition is still 50% for the first 30 days after a the onset of cardiogenic shock. 

The EU-funded EURO SHOCK project is the first large-scale clinical trial investigating ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) as a potential intervention to reduce mortality associated with cardiogenic shock. ECMO is a form of mechanical circulatory support where deoxygenated blood is withdrawn from the patient at the venous site, and after being enriched with oxygen, administered directly to the arterial system, thereby preserving the body’s critical organs during the phase of most critical disease. In this Europe-wide trial, patients will receive immediate revascularisation to open the blocked artery that is causing the heart attack and then, following consent, be randomised to receive to standard pharmacotherapy or standard pharmacotherapy plus ECMO deployment within a few hours after diagnosis of cardiogenic shock 

The project is lead by the Chief Investigator Prof Anthony Gershlick from the University of Leicester and the trial recruitment is coordinated by twelve leading university hospitals supported by two companies. 

Project partners in EURO SHOCK are: accelopment AG (CH), Azienda Ospedaliera Papa Giovanni XXIII (IT), Chalice Medical Limited (UK), Deutsches Herzzentrum München (DE), University of Glasgow (UK), Consorci Institut d’Investigacions Biomediques August Pi I Sunyer (ES), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (BE), Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München (DE), Paula Stradina Kliniska Universitates Slimnica (LV), University of East Anglia (UK), Universitetet i Tromsø (NO), University of Leicester (UK), Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (ES), Universitair Ziekenhuis Antwerpen (BE)
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EURO SHOCK has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 754946.

Primary Contact (and for appointment with Chief Investigator Prof Gershlick)
Dissemination Manager for EURO SHOCK Ms. Isabel Sörensen 
isorensen@accelopment.com 
 D +41 44 455 66 03 
More info: www.euroshock-study.eu