title: Quantification of recirculation as an adjuvant to transthoracic echocardiography for optimization of dual-lumen extracorporeal life support.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Proper cannula positioning in single site veno-venous extracorporeal life support (vv-ELS) is cumbersome and necessitates image guidance to obtain a safe and stable position within the heart and the caval veins. Importantly, image-guided cannula positioning alone is not sufficient, as possible recirculation cannot be quantified.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We present an ultrasound dilution technique allowing quantification of recirculation for optimizing vv-ELS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest quantification of recirculation in addition to image guidance to provide optimal vv-ELS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Maastricht University Medical Centre, P. Debeyelaan 25, P.O. Box 5800, 6202 AZ, Maastricht, The Netherlands. erik.korver@mumc.nl
authors.forename: Erik P J
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Körver
authors.forename: Yuri M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Ganushchak
authors.forename: Antoine P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Simons
authors.forename: Dirk W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Donker
authors.forename: Jos G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Maessen
authors.forename: Patrick W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Weerwind
mesh_terms: D057785:Catheters / Q000592:standards; D004452:Echocardiography; D015199:Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007201:Indicator Dilution Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D009426:Netherlands; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted