Angina Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Angina, including details on symptoms, treatment, causes, prevention, surgery.

Extended duration of brachially inserted intra-aortic balloon pump for myocardial protection in two patients undergoing urgent coronary artery bypass grafting.

Bundhoo S, O'Keefe PA, Luckraz H, Ossei-Gerning N

Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, CF14 4XW, UK. SBundhoo@aol.com

Intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) provides myocardial protection for patients who are at risk of myocardial injury during cardiac surgery. The haemodynamic support is crucial in patients with significant and critical coronary artery disease undergoing revascularisation procedures. Traditionally, the femoral arterial access is the preferred route for IABP insertion. This is, however, not always feasible especially in patients with concomitant occlusive peripheral vascular disease. The trans-brachial route can be used as an alternative for percutaneous insertion of the IABP. We report the technique for left trans-brachial insertion of an IABP, and illustrate our experience with two patients requiring urgent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and for whom the IABP duration was over 50 h.

Published 31 January 2008 in Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg, 7(1): 42-4.
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