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Perfusion Glitches: Kinking of Inlet Side of Arterial Line

Pump Inlet Kinked

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Event Description:

Noticed Decreased Pressure and Increased Venous Return While Maintaining Same Q Rate Using Arterial Roller Pump.  At first i thought I Had my recirc line open, but it wasn’t.

I was scanning my circuit when I noticed that the 3/8 ” tubing on the inlet side of the arterial roller pump had partially kinked off, and the line was chattering a bit… It had somehow gotten pushed to far to the side and was almost occluded.

Cavitation was not observed.

How Was The Problem Identified?

Circuit scan while troubleshooting volume issue on bypass.

What Steps Were Taken ?

  1. Arterial Line Re-Positioned:  Issue Resolved

What Clues Were Missed?

The Arterial Line had somehow gotten pushed to the side too far.

Discussion:

My first instinct was the recirc line.  I was surprised to see the line had kinked, because the tubing is custom fitted for our HL machine, and hadn’t seen a tendency for that to happen.

Outcome:

  • Cavitation could have introduced air to the arterial side of the equation.  As it was- I was surprised there wasn’t more noise coming from the raceway.  Event was resolved quickly.  No issue to the patient.

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