Ultrasound-guided versus blind vascular access followed by REBOA on board of a medical helicopter in a hemorrhagic ovine model.

Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of en-route resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) on board of a helicopter.

Methods: Six sedated male sheep (weighing 42-54 kg) underwent a controlled hemorrhage until the systolic blood pressure (BP) dropped to <90 mmHg, and were placed into a low capacity Eurocopter AS-350 (France). During the 30-minutes normal flight, every animal underwent blind (left side) and ultrasound-guided (US) (right side) vascular access (VA) to the femoral artery followed by REBOA: the first catheter (Rescue balloon, Japan) - into Zone I, the second one (MIT, Russia) - Zone III.