Homemade Salvage Setup for a Catastrophic Heater/Cooler Failure on Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Perfusion-related problems are still reported at incidence, varying from .72 to 2.86%, and add to the morbidity and mortality of cardiac surgery. Awareness of such problems and establishing protocols to avoid and manage them is a key factor in further improving patient outcomes. In this report, we describe a homemade setup which was used as a desperate salvage measure to rewarm a 1-year-old baby on cardiopulmonary bypass for intracardiac repair, who was inadvertently cooled to 24°C because of a malfunctioning heater/cooler machine.