The challenges presented to the cardiovascular perfusionist in preparation and conducting cardiopulmonary bypass in neonates are formidable. It is a well known concept that it is not adequate to treat newborns simply as small adults. Most physiologic mechanisms are different and unique to the newborn and their treatment under all circumstances must accommodate these differences.

The past few years have seen a progressive reduction in the mortality and complications associated with the repair of cardiac lesions in early life. The child, after birth, is a rapidly developing organism. Each organ system develops at different rates. Cardiopulmonary bypass represents an extreme stress to the neonates and it can produce complications that, at a number of times, become very difficult to revert.

We have reviewed almost 400 recently published papers (Jan 2000-Dec 2006) dealing with neonatal cardiopulmonary bypass. Among these papers, we selected 50 that we considered highly representative of the new techniques and protocols applied to this particular group of patients.

These 50 papers cover a broad range of topics, from devices to myocardial and cerebral protection. They are collected as a single pdf file to facilitate the download and to make printing and/or reading on the screen an easy task.

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