Inducing systemic hyperkalemia for cardiac arrest during cardiopulmonary bypass with patent cardiac circulation

In any cardiac patient, efforts should be made to avoid volume overload, especially around the time of surgery. Continuous retrograde Del Nido cardioplegia, a common practice for maintaining cardiac arrest during a procedure when a patient has patent circulation, has the unintended side effect of significantly adding to the net fluid infused into the patient. Systemic hyperkalemia has been induced to reduce the amount of cardioplegia needed to maintain cardiac electromechanical arrest. To supplement knowledge regarding this technique, we report our experiences using systemic hyperkalemia in the context of the use of Del Nido cardioplegia.