PREVENTION OF DISTAL LIMB ISCHEMIA DURING CARDIOPULMONARY SUPPORT VIAFEMORAL CANNULATION

The indications for prolonged cardiopulmonary support or extracorporea l membrane oxygenation are expanding. A potential serious complication of these techniques is distal limb ischemia. Techniques have been dev eloped to provide the distal limb with blood now. Unfortunately, speci alized skills and materials are required. We describe a simple method of providing distal limb perfusion using ordinary pressure tubing and a standard cordis catheter. This technique is capable of reproducing n ormal superficial femoral artery blood now.