How to get a bloodless intra-cardiac field in mini-invasive cardiac surgery

Background/Introduction Minimally-invasive cardiac surgery is increasingly used in conjunction with peripheral cannulation. However, due to the relatively small diameter of the access vessels, thin walled venous cannulas are usually used in conjunction with augmentation. We have previously reported about 36F self-expanding cannulas which allow for remote cannulation and full flow (2.4 l/min m2) by gravity drainage. The new, smaller virtually wall-less 24F cannulas which pass through an 18F percutaneous orifice were designed for augmented venous drainage.