No abstract

The use of fresh whole blood for cardiopulmonary bypass priming has no advantage over the use of a combination of packed red cells and fresh-frozen plasma during surgery for congenital heart disease. Moreover, circuit priming with fresh whole blood is associated with an increased length of stay in the intensive care unit and increased perioperative fluid overload.

The attrition is high after prolonged extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support for cardiac insufficiency in children. Cardiac transplantation in this cohort was rarely achieved and was associated with high mortality compared with benchmarks for cardiac transplantation survival. Earlier redirection of care or conversion to other modes of mechanical support as a bridge to transplantation should be considered.