Intraoperative cerebral malperfusion complicated with axillary artery cannulation]

To minimize the risk of malperfusion, axillary arterial cannulation which avoids retrograde flow, has been widely used in patients undergoing operations for various types of aortic pathologies. Despite several advantages of this technique, cerebral malperfusion is getting known and might be due to newly developed arterial damage or dissection. Eighty-four patients underwent cannulation of the axillary artery in recent 5 years. Malperfusion occurred in 3 patients with significant regional cerebral oxygen desaturation during operation. Axillary arterial perfusion was stopped and oxygen saturation was elevated immediately. The perfusion was switched to the femoral artery and following procedure was completed. Although axillary arterial cannulation is an attractive alternative, neither axillary nor femoral arterial perfusion is perfect to avoid the cerebral malperfusion. Whichever perfusion site is used, special care should be taken for intraoperative finding and appropriate use of each techniques.