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Catastrophic Bleeding from Right Atrium

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Near Misses in Cardiac Surgery

Abstract

Postoperative hemorrhage remains one of the most vexing challenges facing cardiac surgeons. When it occurs in the intensive care unit, it demands a rapid response from the entire team with a decision whether to open the chest in the intensive care unit or transport the patient to the operating room. In this case, the bleeding is venous and so a move to the optimal conditions in the operating room is possible. Once there, however, it may be challenging to control the site of hemorrhage while repair is undertaken. An option that should be kept in mind in this and in many other instances is the value of a strategically positioned Foley catheter balloon to occlude the site of hemorrhage while definitive repair occurs.

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Correspondence to Thoralf M. Sundt .

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Baldwin, A.C.W., Sundt, T.M. (2022). Catastrophic Bleeding from Right Atrium. In: Sundt, T.M., Cameron, D.E., Lee, M.E. (eds) Near Misses in Cardiac Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92750-9_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92750-9_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-92749-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-92750-9

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