Femorofemoral Bypass in Redo Cardiac Surgery: A Safe and Effective Operative Technique

Redo cardiac surgery are more frequent with a patient population at greater risk. Repeat sternal entry poses the risk of possible injury to vital structures. These include laceration of the myocardium, especially the right ventricle, injury of great vessels or crossing coronary bypass grafts as the internal mammary grafts in particular, or dislodgement of emboli from patent vein grafts. To minimize the risk associated with sternal re-entry, the investigators adopted the method of establishing femoral artery-femoral vein cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in order to achieve cardiac drain prior to sternotomy. Also, femorofemoral bypass support the hemodynamics in cases of redo emergency cardiac surgery.