An update on perfusion safety: does the type of perfusion practice affect the rate of incidents related to cardiopulmonary bypass?

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) techniques vary among adult and pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery. This may result in a differential conduct of CPB between various aged patients. The present study reports on perfusion incidents occurring in hospitals using extracorporeal circulation. An 80 question survey was mailed to chief perfusionists at all 1030 US cardiac surgical centers. Respondents were asked to report on device use and incidents occurring during a 2-year period from July 1996 to June 1998. Five hundred and twenty-four completed surveys were returned with the age of surgical patients operated on at each hospital defined as either an adult (n=407), pediatric (n=17), or combined-adult and pediatric (n=100). Centrifugal pumps were used as the primary systemic pumps in 54% of adult, 12% of pediatric, and 36% of combined centers. In-line blood gas monitoring was used in 76% of all pediatric hospitals, but in only 30% of adult facilities. Incident rates occurred once per every 120.9, 83.9, and 220.2 cases in adult, pediatric, and combined centers, respectively. Mortality rates related to CPB occurred 2.7 times higher in adult and pediatric centers as compared to combined hospitals. Arterial dissection was the number one cause of death in both pediatric and combined hospitals, while coagulation disturbances resulted in the highest mortality for adult procedures. Results of this study show that the lowest incident rates occur at hospitals performing combined adult and pediatric CPB.