Percutaneous cardiopulmonary bypass for cardiac emergencies.

Percutaneous cardiopulmonary support systems (PCPS) are compact, battery-powered, portable heart-lung machines that can be implemented rapidly in any area of the hospital using thin-walled cannulae inserted via the femoral vessels. PCPS provides temporary circulatory support by actively aspirating blood from the patient's venous system using a centrifugal pump and hollow fiber membrane oxygenator for gas exchange. A review of clinical reports has delineated several indications for emergent applications, with the most frequent being cardiac arrest (CA) or cardiogenic shock (CS). Survival is more likely in patients with CS (40%) compared to CA (21%). Implementation of PCPS after unwitnessed CA or cardiopulmonary resuscitation > 30 min yields a patient survival rate of < 10%. The likelihood of patient survival after emergent PCPS is most often related to the patient undergoing a definitive anatomic surgical repair such as coronary artery bypass or pulmonary embolectomy. If the need for circulatory support extends beyond 6 h, conversion to conventional long-term extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or a ventricular assist device is recommended.