Pediatric Minimal Extracorporal Circulation - First Clinial Experience Using a Newly Established Closed Mini-Bypass Circuit as Perfusion Technique for Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

Background: Closed miniaturized extracorporeal circulation (mini-ECC) systems proved to be beneficial in terms of the deleterious effects on the patient´s organism due to its reduced priming volume and lowered inflammatory response compared with conventional open cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). To attenuate the CPB-associated systemic immune reaction and to cope with the extreme mismatch between the CPB priming volume and total blood volume of the children, a special adjustment of the CPB setup was required. Here we report on our first clinical experiences with the application of the newly established closed miniaturized bypass circuit as a new perfusion technique for pediatric cardiac surgery.