Prevalence and Predictors of Distal Limb Ischemia in Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery.

Peripheral arterial cannulation is a necessity for installation of cardiopulmonary bypass in minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS). In the vast majority of cases, the femoral artery is the preferred arterial cannulation site. Distal limb hypoperfusion and ischemia can occur in the cannulated limb since antegrade perfusion is not routinely provided. Furthermore, the diameter of the cannula required to maintain adequate cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) flow is often approaching that of the patient's femoral artery diameter, compromising distal blood flow. The possibility of distal limb ischemia is often raised as a criticism to peripheral cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass and by extent to minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Ischemia of the lower limb is of high incidence in patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy, in which the same femoral cannulation technique is used. Therefore this complication has extensively been described in ECMO literature. However, no clinical trials have been performed in patients undergoing MICS, despite the same cannulation and perfusion route. ECMO patients often differ from MICS patients in morbidity as well as in duration of cannulation. Up to now, one could not observe any clinical sequelae of limb ischemia in MICS patients but a formal study of distal leg perfusion in MICS is recommended to screen its safety and to identify possible risk factors.