Preoperative patient characteristics were almost comparable between two groups. Central cannulation was safely performed in all 33 cases. Preoperatively, thirteen patients (28.9%) had shock state with cardiac tamponade, the overall hospital mortality was 15.6%. Intraoperative data including operation time, cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time, and selective cerebral perfusion showed significantly shorter in the central group (P<0.05). In particular, the central group had significantly shorter time in central cooling and re-warming during CPB than the peripheral group (P<0.0001). In postoperative morbidities, the central group had shorter mean ventilation time (P=0.03) and the duration of ICU stay (P=0.002). Additionally, the central group experienced significantly fewer acute lung injury (ALI) than the peripheral group (P=0.04).