Neurological complications remain a major burden in cardiac surgery, despite various intraoperative measures attempting to reduce its occurrence. Advancement of percutaneous approach in valve replacement has brought focus to the use of cerebral protection system (CPS). We reported a novel application of percutaneous CPS in open heart surgery for a patient with an extensive calcified left atrial thrombus to reduce risk of embolic stroke. Although, there is no evidence to advocate routine use of CPS in all open cardiac surgical patients, we believe it is a technically feasible and probably safe approach for neurological protection in high-risk patients.
Keywords: cardiac surgery; cerebral vascular disease, stroke; endovascular.