The purpose of this study is to assess the efficiency of ASAHI-Hollow Fiber Gas Exchanger by extracorporeal circuit for improving acute respiratory insufficiency.
The gas exchanger has 8000 hollow fibers made of cuproammonium rayon, the thickness of the fiber wall is 20μ, inside diameter 260μ, length 17.0cm. The total surface area for gas transfer is 1.0m2 and the priming volume of the gas exchanger is 115.0ml. 12 dogs (9-13kg) were administered with sodium pentobarbital and hexafluorenium bromide, intubated and ventilated with a volume cycled respirator. The state of acute respiratory insufficiency was brought about by reducing the displacement capacity of the respirator. A-V shunt was placed in the femoral artery and femoral vein and the dog was heparinized.
The extracorporeal circuit consisted of a roller pump, the gas exchanger and a heat exchanger. The volume flow of blood through the gas exchanger was kept at 90-350ml/min.
The results ohteined were:
1) O2 and CO2 transfer rates were 8.5ml/min/m2 and 17.0ml/min/m2 respectively at the blood flow of 350ml/min.
2) Excepting mild hemolysis, no significant change was observed in blood components.
3) The experimental hypoxemia was eliminated by the gas exchanger, while it could not necessarily be said that the hypercapnia was sufficiently eliminated.
