Treatment and conditions /Heart Diseases /Cardiovascular diseases /Types of cardiac cannulas

Application and types of cardiac cannulas

For more information about heart surgery, see the “Role of heart surgery in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases” page.

To perform heart surgery, it is necessary for the blood to leave the heart and then return to the body after oxygenation. The transfer of blood from the body to the heart and lung machine is done by venous cannulae and the return of oxygenated blood to the heart is done by arterial cannulae.

Types of cardiac cannulas

Venous cannulas:

This cannula comes in different types and sizes and directs blood from the patient to the pump device and includes:

  • “Straight tip single stage cannula“
  • Curved tip Single-stage cannula
  • “Straight tip two-stage cannula“
  • Multistage femoral cannula

Arterial cannula:

This cannula returns blood to the body after being oxygenated (aortic or femoral artery) and is designed in different types and sizes and includes:

  • “Curved tip arterial cannula”
  • Straight tip arterial cannula
  • Femoral arterial cannula

Cardioplegia cannula:

This cannula is designed for injecting cardioplegia solution (this solution causes temporary and controlled failure of the heart) in different types and sizes and includes:

  • “Aortic root cannula without vent line”
  • “Aortic root cannula with vent line”
  • Retrograde root cannula
  • Coronary artery root cannula

 Vent cannula

This cannula is designed to remove blood from the operating environment to the oxygenator in different sizes and types:

  • “Straight tip vent cannula”
  • Malleable vent cannula