According to a preliminary research, the tubing and other bendable equipment used in cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) exposed young children to phthalates at levels that might have a clinical significance.

At a hospital, children who received blood products during cardiac surgery were noted to have immediate post-procedural rise in serum levels of DEHP (a median of about 3 µM preoperative to about 5 µM afterward, P<0.0001) and MEHP (from about 0 µM to about 7 µM, P<0.0001), taking up the total phthalate level from about 4 µM to about 13 µM (P<0.0001). The youngest kids appeared to have more phthalate increases, as post-operative phthalate levels had a correlation with more blood products used, longer bypass time, and use of methylprednisolone. The findings were presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) virtual meeting… (Medpage Today)