Miniaturized cardiopulmonary bypass: the Hammersmith technique

Table 3 mCPB: soft shell reservoir and Midi card options

		Options
		Soft shell reservoir	Midi card
Patient		All	All
Operation		AVR, CABG, AVR + CABG	Complex operation, redo, Aortic root, Mitral,
		Experienced perfusionist *	Case selection
Device	Parallel	Yes	Yes
	Blood-air interface	No	Yes (minimal)
Vented Blood	Air removal	Manual (active)	Automatic
			Open reservoir
			Independent of perfusionist
	Venting	Experienced management and good communication	Easily managed, not labour intensive

AVR Aortic Valve Replacement, CABG Coronary Artery Bypass Graft, FSA Foreign Surface Area, IVC Inferior Vena Cava, SSR Soft shell Reservoir, VARD Venous Air Removal Device. * We begin training junior perfusionists with Midi card and after experience is gained, we move to SSR for routine cases. With further experience both by surgical and perfusionist teams, we move forward to Soft Shell Reservoir (SSR) for all cases regardless of complexity. The characteristics of these two options are described below.

ISSN: 1749-8090