An alternate approach: Percutaneous axillary cannulation for minimally invasive cardiac surgery

Percutaneous axillary artery cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) offers a novel alternate approach to mechanical circulatory support for patients with contraindications to femoral perfusion. To our knowledge, this has not yet been reported in minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS).

We aim to highlight our experience using percutaneous axillary artery cannulation to safely facilitate CPB for minimally invasive cardiac surgery MICS.

Four patients who underwent robotic cardiac surgery utilizing the axillary artery for percutaneous cannulation between November 2019 and August 2021 at a single center were identified and included in the analysis. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data were collected and analyzed to support this case series.

There were no perioperative hematomas, brachial plexus injuries, or neurovascular injuries. Within 30-days postoperatively there was no mortality, vessel injury, stroke, new onset atrial fibrillation, or other life-threatening bleeding.

Percutaneous cannulation of the axillary artery is a novel and promising CPB modality for robotic cardiac surgery in patients with extensive peripheral and aortic atherosclerotic disease.