Minimising the risk of Mycobacterium chimaera infection during cardiopulmonary bypass by the removal of heater-cooler units from the operating room

Perfusion First Published November 7, 2017 https://doi.org/10.1177/0267659117739103

Mycobacterium chimaera (M. chimaera) is a recently characterised bacterium that can cause life-threatening infections in small numbers of patients who undergo cardiopulmonary bypass during cardiac surgery. The likely mode of transmission is thought to occur through aerosolisation from contaminated water reservoirs. The airborne bacteria then contaminate the surgical field, leading to an infection months or even years later. The preferred practical solution to disrupt the transmission of these airborne bacteria to the patient is to remove the heater-cooler units (HCUs) from the operating room (OR). We describe a process of achieving this in order to provide information to guide other institutions who wish to do a similar thing.

UHCW Research: Thomas A. Barker, Uday Dandekar, Nina Fraser, Lincoln Dawkin, Paul Sweeney, Fraser Heron, Jacqui Simmons and Jitendra Parmar

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NHS to notify heart surgery patients of small risk of infection caused by heater cooler units

The NHS is taking the precautionary step of writing to patients who have had certain types of open heart surgery to inform them that they may have a low risk of having contracted an infection caused by Mycobacterium chimaera (M. chimaera).

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