Commentary: Taking the next step in cardiopulmonary bypass management

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a system familiar to us all. Many of us use it virtually on a daily basis while we are going about the business of performing our jobs as surgeons. Although incredible advances in perfusion science have been made during the past several decades, it has struck me in recent years that despite the advances in technology of all sorts, our current heart-lung machines still seem relatively large, complicated masses of machinery and tubing that occupy a relatively large footprint in the cardiac operating room.