A Trick to Control the Bleeding in Cardiovascular Surgery

W h e n a c c i d e n t a l b l e e d i n g h a p p e n s o n t h e posterior wall of vena cava during the procedure of vena cava cannulation [Figure 1a], two pieces of thymus gland tissue around 2 cm × 1 cm were taken as the mattress tips, and these two pieces of tissue were put aside the bottom of vena cava, then use Prolene (Ethicon, Somerville, NJ, USA) to pass through the interspace under the posterior wall to make a mattress suture [Figure 1b and c]. Knot is tied with adequate tension to eliminate any obvious bleeding and to achieve complete hemostasis [Figure 1d]. In some cases, additional mattress sutures are needed to stop bleeding.