The extracorporeal pump filter--saint or sinner?

An arterial line filter can become a grave source of platelet and fibrin destruction, with widespread deposition on the filter to form a membrane across the mesh, as proved by careful scanning electron microscopy. The same filter, when subjected to the low flows of the cardiotomy line, was well tolerated and served a very useful function. There was a 260% improvement in platelet counts and a 170% reduction in chest drainage when the arterial line filter was not used, perhaps through elimination of a degree of consumptive coagulopathy. Neurological changes did not occur in the absence of the arterial line filter, and operative mortality was 4.8% (5 of 103 patients).