pubmed:abstractText |
Supplemental oxygenation and carbon dioxide removal through an intravenous respiratory assist catheter can be used as a means of treating patients with acute respiratory failure. We are beginning development efforts toward a new respiratory assist catheter with an insertional size <25F, which can be inserted percutaneously. In this study, we evaluated fiber bundle rotation as an improved mechanism for active mixing and enhanced gas exchange in intravenous respiratory assist catheters. Using a simple test apparatus of a rotating densely packed bundle of hollow fiber membranes, water and blood gas exchange levels were evaluated at various rotation speeds in a mock vena cava. At 12,000 RPM, maximum CO2 gas exchange rates were 449 and 523 mL/min per m2, water and blood, respectively, but the rate of increase with increasing rotation rate diminished beyond 7500 RPM. These levels of gas exchange efficiency are two- to threefold greater than achieved in our previous respiratory catheters using balloon pulsation for active mixing. In preliminary hemolysis tests, which monitored plasma-free hemoglobin levels in vitro over a period of 6 hours, we established that the rotating fiber bundle per se did not cause significant blood hemolysis compared with an intra-aortic balloon pump. Accordingly, fiber bundle rotation appears to be a potential mechanism for increasing gas exchange and reducing insertional size in respiratory catheters.
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pubmed:publicationType |
Journal Article,
In Vitro,
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't,
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
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