The use of cell salvage throughout the entire procedure reduces postoperative blood loss and allogeneic RBC transfusion. These findings advocate implementation of cell salvage in all patients undergoing on-pump cardiac surgery, irrespective of anticipated surgery-related blood loss.

Nexfin non-invasive arterial pressure measurements are feasible in paediatric patients. Nexfin accurately reflects the intra-arterial MAP and DAP curves, but seems to underestimate SAP compared with intra-arterial pressure. These results suggest that Nexfin may be used in low-to-moderate risk children without severe systemic hypotension, who require beat-to-beat haemodynamic monitoring but do not have an indication for invasive measurements.

risk of leakage and dislodgement [5] are substantially lower because the needle puncture hole is smaller than the outer catheter diameter.

No abstract