It’s Perfusion Week!

Perfusion Week 2023 is here! That makes it the perfect time to recognize perfusionists for their essential role at U-M Health.

While perfusionists have played a critical role in and out of the operating room for decades, that’s been especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic as they provided extracorporeal support to the most critically ill patients. 

So what are perfusionists?

They work primarily in the cardiac operating rooms at the Frankel Cardiovascular Center. They are responsible for operating the heart lung machine during scheduled cardiac, thoracic, emergency and oncological procedures.

In essence, perfusionists take over the function of the heart and lungs during cardiac surgery, as well as maintaining blood pressure, oxygenation and electrolyte balance for surgical patients.

It’s a specialized profession with only 3,500 such experts across the U.S.

Thank you, Michigan Medicine perfusionists, for being the heart of cardiac surgery!