PRESENT STATUS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE OXYGENATOR

Abstract

The oxygenator has been developed as an apparatus for open heart surgery. It is classified as (1) gas-blood interface type and (2) gas-membrane-blood diffusion type. Now, actually the former is a bubble oxygenator (BO) and the latter is a membrane oxygenator (MO). Recently, MO has been used more than BO in hospitals. Microporous membrane or dense (silicone) membrane is used for MO. ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) is develped as new application of MO. ECMO is one type of assisted circulation by means of MO and is applied for acute respiratory failure (in original use) and for acute cardiopulmonary failure (in wide use). Bridge use for heart transplantation is also done sometimes. It might be developed the implantable artificial lung for respiratory failure in the future.