Medtronic, Inc. announced US Food and Drug Administration clearance for the Medtronic Performer Cardiopulmonary Bypass System (CPB), an integrated, compact console capable of providing total support of the circulatory system during a variety of cardiac surgical procedures. Though offering all the functionality of existing systems, it occupies only a 20-inch by 22-inch space, just a third of the footprint of the time-honoured "heart-lung" consoles, stated a company release.

"The Performer integrates all of the components that Medtronic has to offer with an innovative pumping system in a small footprint and features that are controlled on a touch-screen," said Brian McCloskey, chief of clinical perfusion, Foothills General Hospital Calgary, Alberta. "Together with the Medtronic Resting Heart System (RHS), it is an excellent package providing an effective way to run an advanced mini-circuit on a small pump base. It takes up significantly less OR space and helps with coordination of all of the monitoring devices work with," he added.

According to the company release, the Medtronic Performer CPB responds to the spatial demands in today's operating room, providing convenient access for perfusionists. With disposables at operating-table height, and providing monitoring, pumping, controlling, filtration, air handling, or cardioplegia functions as needed, the Performer CPB, when used with smaller biocompatible circuits like the Medtronic Resting Heart® System, offers a new approach to reducing morbidity of cardiac surgery.

"Medtronic is committed to developing medical advances that meet the needs of the patient and his or her surgical team," Oern Stuge, president, Medtronic Cardiac Surgery said adding, "This industry-leading extracorporeal support system facilitates those procedures and is upgradeable to accommodate new procedures into the future."

With the Performer CPB, Medtronic becomes the only company offering a comprehensive product line supporting nearly any cardiac surgical procedure the physician chooses for each individual patient - stopped-heart, beating-heart, and valve surgery, with or without concomitant surgical ablation.