Buying time! VA-ECMO as a bridge to successful reoperative cardiac surgery in a case of traumatic tricuspid valve injury

Cardiac surgery performed on patients in cardiogenic shock is associated with a high mortality and morbidity. Preoperative Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) in cardiogenic shock gives critically-ill patients a chance for surgical intervention and is associated with better surgical outcomes. We present a 29-year-old male who had a ventricular septal defect closure as a child and presented with multi-organ injuries following polytrauma. He was in cardiogenic shock despite maximal inotropic support. Transesophageal echocardiography demonstrated torrential tricuspid regurgitation (TR) from a flail tricuspid valve (TV) leaflet as the cause of cardiogenic shock. He was stabilized on Veno-Arterial ECMO and underwent reoperative cardiac surgery. Intra-operatively, the anterior leaflet of his TV and its papillary muscle was detached from the right ventricle. He had a successful tissue TV replacement. Early surgery was indicated to treat right ventricular failure due to torrential TR, but due to his restricting non-cardiac injuries, ECMO was successfully used as a short-term support strategy and as a bridge to definitive surgery.