surgery

A left ventricular (LV) pseudoaneurysm is an LV outpouching devoid of myocardium/endocardium contained by the pericardium and adhesions. As one can imagine, this pathology carries a high risk of rupture and mortality. LV pseudoaneurysms...

As a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist, hemostasis, coagulopathy, and blood salvation are important considerations in the operations I'm involved with. Cell Saver is one technique our perfusion team routinely utilizes to facilitate blood conservation. Blood loss...

The Cabrol shunt is a technique for controlling bleeding around the aortic root following aortic valve or root manipulation. When conventional methods like additional suturing, correction of any coagulopathy, and localized hemostatic agents have...

Surgicel is an oxidized cellulose hemostatic agent used to control bleeding. It creates a physical barrier to blood loss while promoting localized vasoconstriction and platelet aggregation within the matrix of fibers. Furthermore, due to...

As a follow-up to my perioperative and critical care reference sheet, I've created a similar one for mechanical circulatory support (MCS). The same instructions apply: This sheet doesn't constitute medical advice, and I'm NOT responsible...

Retrograde cerebral perfusion (RCP) is a neuroprotective technique originally described in the early 1990s to deliver cold, oxygenated blood via the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuit to the cerebral vasculature by way of the superior...

Povidone-iodine (Betadine) is a topical antiseptic I use for patients with allergies/sensitivities to chlorhexidine before invasive procedures (chest tubes, lumbar drains, central lines, etc.) in the ICU and OR settings. During emergent cardiac surgeries,...

Lumbar drains are a mainstay for spinal cord protection when patients undergo operations like thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA) repairs and thoracic endovascular aortic repairs (TEVAR) with subclavian artery debranching. Why? Because the anterior spinal...