Our main job, as a perfusionist, is to operate the heart-lung machine during open-heart
procedures, stabilizing the patients’ physiological status. We monitor devices, such as
extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and ventricular assist devices (VAD),
along with intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABP). Other areas of the perfusionist’s expertise include preparation of bone marrow aspirate (BMA), platelet gel, and autologous blood processing.
