A Heart Lung Bypass Machine

Perfusion as related to cardiac surgery can be defined as the movement of oxygenated blood through blood vessels to vital organs of the body.  Under normal circumstances the heart is the pump which propels the blood to the lungs, where oxygen and CO2 are exchanged.  Blood enriched of oxygen and depleted of CO2 is then pumped to the body’s organs in order to keep them functioning properly.  In cases where the heart has a defect and cannot perform the function of pumping blood, cardiac surgery must be performed to correct the congenital defect.  In order to perform this type of surgery the heart must be stopped so that the cardiovascular surgeon can open the heart and repair the defect.  Therefore the perfusionist is responsible for providing mechanical perfusion for the patient while the heart is stopped.  Utilizing a complex piece of equipment, the heart and lung machine (HLM), the perfusionist can pump oxygenated blood to the patient’s organs temporarily taking place of both the heart and lungs.  This is called placing a patient on cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Read the rest of this entry »

The “Flight For Life” pediatric heart team went to Romania to help children with highly-complicated cardiac birth defects. By Donald R. Winslow a photojournalist’s portfolio. Click here to view pictures.

On behalf of our son, we will always be grateful for what you did as you have given him his life back when you and your team performed surgery on him two years ago.

Dragos now has a bright future ahead of him and this is what our son is today and it is all thanks to you.

God bless you for what you are doing, and always realize that you bring smiles on other people’s faces and tears of joy in other grateful eyes.

Eternal gratitude,
Dragos, Marcel and Geta Tuluc, from Cluj-Napoca, Romania

[SinglePic not found]With your help, through your generous donations, we can save hundreds of other children who, otherwise, will not live to see adulthood.

Give them that CHANCE – Give the “Gift of Life!”

“May the gift of heart surgery for these kids be greater than our human expectations. Another life saved.”