The Effects of Membrane Oxygenation Design on Oxygenation Performance and Blood Damage.

The superiority of the membrane oxygenator over its gas contacting counterpart in minimising blood trauma is not considered proved. To this end a model membrane oxygenator and perfusion circuit were designed to test ways of improving gas transfer and comparing the hemolysis and protein denaturation caused by the two types of artificial lung. Experiments used human transfusion blood at physiological temperature and gas tensions. From data gained and from the 1,000 papers reviewed, membrane oxygenator design criteria were produced. A theoretical analysis of the gas transfer across the membrane suggested that the active vibration of the oxygenator effectively eliminiated the resistance of the plasma to gas flow