Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Despite being the alpha (and sometimes omega) of cardiac surgery, CRQ questions on cardiopulmonary bypass are relatively infrequent.

Indeed, one question each on anticoagulation for CABG (March 2020), cardioplegia (September 2019) and off-pump surgery (March 2017) are the only culprits since 2016.

In terms of curriculum coverage, we're asked to demonstrate knowledge of the:

• 'Principles of cardiopulmonary bypass including the use of cardioplegia'
• 'Pharmacological problems in cardiopulmonary bypass, cardioplegia'
• 'Need for, and methods of, altering blood coagulability during cardiac surgery'
• 'Methods used to cool and re-warm patients during cardiac surgery, and the complications'

All of these are covered in the pages below.

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• Principles of cardiopulmonary bypass
• Conduct of anaesthesia (in brief)
• Cardioplegia
• Anticoagulation during bypass
• Temperature management during bypass
• Complications of bypass