Devin R Mudge MD

If I need to stop your heart to work on it, I will connect you to the "pump". This a machine that temporarily takes over the duties of your heart and lungs. It will pump oxygen-rich blood to your body while I sew on a quiet bloodless heart. Then we restart your heart and turn off the machine. I know that this sounds dramatic, but this is routine for us. We have a dedicated perfusionist who controls the heart-lung machine, and they are the best in the business. Every detail is monitored and double checked much like a pilot operating a 747. Most heart operations require less than an hour on the heart-lung machine. Your body tolerates that easily.

If you are having lung surgery the heart-lung machine won't be necessary. We may need to temporarily collapse the lung I am working on, but our testing before surgery will assure that your other lung can take over during the operation.

Last updated on May 15, 2013 by Devin R Mudge MD