Selective use of superficial temporal artery cannulation in infants undergoing cardiac surgery

Arterial cannulation is routinely performed in children undergoing cardiac surgery to aid the intraoperative and intensive care management. Most commonly cannulated peripheral site in children is radial artery, and alternatives include posterior tibial, dorsalis pedis, and rarely superficial temporal artery (STA). Two specific situations in cardiac surgery where STA cannulation and monitoring was useful during the surgical procedure are reported. To our knowledge, such selective use of STA pressure monitoring has not been reported in the literature previously. Our experience suggests that STA monitoring can be useful and reliable during repair of coarctation of aorta or administration of anterograde cerebral perfusion in patients having associated aberrant origin of the right subclavian artery.