Preliminary experience with a percutaneous cardiopulmonary support system.

Percutaneous cardiopulmonary bypass has been introduced to support circulation in critical patients. In our preliminary experience we resuscitated two patients who sustained a prolonged cardiac arrest (52 min. and 31 min.) after coronary angiography and elective cardiac surgery, respectively. Cannulation was achieved percutaneously within 10 min. in both cases. Pump flow ranged from 2 to 31/m. Total support lasted from 52 min. to 180 min.. Both patients were successfully weaned. Patient 1 was declared brain dead and expired 17 days later. Patient 2 was discharged from the hospital and is doing well. Cannulation was attempted in a third patient after 30 min. of cardiac arrest. Despite surgical cut down of the femoral vessels, it was impossible to advance the arterial cannula because of bilateral occlusive disease. We conclude that PCPS is a powerful technique in selected patients to recover a stable cardiac function after prolonged cardiac arrest.