Use of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Management of Hemostasis After Complex Cardiac Surgery.

Intractable bleeding during cardiac surgery is a rare but life-threatening complication. We describe a novel management approach in which the patient was supported with venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation until hemostasis could be achieved. This approach serves as an unloading technique for the heart while allowing compression of bleeding sites and safe transfusion without hemodynamic instability or myocardial dysfunction.