Portable cardiopulmonary bypass for heart-lung donor transplants

In 1985 a portable cardiopulmonary bypass machine was devised in order that heart-lung donors from hospitals that were some distance away from our own institution could be procured. The distance of these hospitals ranged from the far north of Scotland to the Greek city of Athens. This paper will show how the portable bypass machine was developed and how it is used for the procurement of donor organs. As an offshoot of this, the device has been used for two emergency bypass procedures at noncardiac units where the transfer of the patient was impossible.