A natural disaster is when events such as earthquakes, mudslides, floods or wildfires affect people. Despite our inability to control these events, we can plan and prepare for them to minimize damage when they do happen. Below are brief explanations of disasters that are common in California. Follow the links to more information about a specific disaster.
When this happens the patient is said to be on bypass.. The person who operates the machine is called a perfusionist. Before and while your child is on bypass, a blood-thinning drug will be administered to prevent blood clots from forming.
There are several newer, less invasive techniques for bypass surgery that can be used instead of open-chest surgery in some cases. In some procedures, the heart is slowed with medicine but is still beating during the procedure. For these types of surgery, a heart-lung bypass machine is not needed. (For open-chest surgery, a heart-lung machine is needed to circulate the blood and to add oxygen to it.) Other techniques use keyhole procedures or minimally invasive procedures instead of open-chest surgery.