Cardioplegia as A Determinant of Myocardial Damage, Short and Long Term Survival Post Cardiac Surgery (EP Video)

An anticoagulant is essential in extracorporeal circulations to maintain the fluidity of the blood and to protect the platelets and plasma-coagulation factors in the pump-oxygenator circuit.

Cardiac surgery involves cardiopulmonary bypass during which the core temperature is generally lowered to hypothermic levels.Because of the absence of hospital policies and of clear UK guidelines that explain how to manage such cases, we decided to conduct a web-based survey regarding standard anaesthesia practice in patients with both cold and warm autoantibodies presenting for cardiac surgery.