Approach of the pulmonary valve using right heart bypass and bicaval cannula: experimental study.

Objective: To reproduce the surgery for correction of pulmonary valve anomalies using right heart bypass and a new bicaval cuffed venous cannula for minimal access surgery.

Methods: Fifteen Large-White pigs were used for this study. The standard technique model was established with the first five pigs, the experiment was done with nine animals by sternotomy, and one was submitted to a minimally invasive procedure, but has been excluded of the sample.