Emergency cardiopulmonary bypass for cardiac arrest refractory to pediatric advanced life support

Ne report the application of emergent cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) for thre e pediatric patients in the cardiac catheterization laboratory with cardiac arrest who did not respond to conventional resuscitation efforts. All thre e patients had return of baseline prearrest rhythms within minutes of the i nitiation of artificial cardiopulmonary support and the return of spontaneo us circulation upon weaning CPB. Two patients had normal neurologic outcome s despite an interval of over 30 minutes from arrest to CPB. The continued judicious application and study of this technology in a small subpopulation of pediatric cardiac arrest patients is warranted.