ECMOLIFE intra-hospital transport in life-saving for pulmonary vein obstruction.

Background: Transport with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in the hospital setting can become a challenge as well as in the out-of-hospital setting. In particular, the management of intra-hospital transport with ECMO support of the critically ill patient foresees his shift from the intensive care to the diagnostic areas, from the diagnostic areas to the interventional and surgical areas.

Case Presentation: In this context, we present a life-saving transport case with the veno-venous (VV) configuration of the ECMOLIFE Eurosets system, for right heart and respiratory failure in a 54-year-old woman, due to thrombosed obstruction of the right superior pulmonary vein, following mitral valve repair surgery in minimally invasive approach in a patient already operated on for complex congenital heart disease.

Dopamine Optimizes Venous Return During Cardiopulmonary Bypass and Reduces the Need for Postoperative Blood Transfusion.

Venodilation occurs shortly after the institution of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), necessitating fluid or vasoconstrictor administration to maintain adequate oxygen delivery. The vasoconstrictor effects of dopamine are not well studied in this context. Therefore, we conducted a single-center, double-blind case-control study to determine the role and utility of dopamine as a vasoconstrictor during CPB.