AN APPROACH TO THE MICROPOROUS HOLLOW FIBER FOR THE ECMO OXYGENATOR

—MICRO PORE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GAS EXCHANGE PERFORMANCE, PLASMA LEAKAGE, AND HYDROPHILIZATION OF THE INNER SURFACE OF FIBERS—

Abstract

To apply the microporous hollow fiber to the ECMO oyxgen-ator, we evaluated the characteristics of micro pore on the gas exchange performance, plasma leakage and bubble point. For internal flow type oxygenator, we confirmed that the through-the-fiber gas transfer resistance is negligible for the porosity as low as 21.90, which in-dicates that the limitation of the porosity is still lower. The results of accelerating test for plasma leakage showed that the oxygenator equipped with above-mentioned fibers can be used to the perfusion for more than a week without plasma leakage. Furthermore, heparin immobilized surface of this fiber enabled higher bubble point without plasma leakage, which enables further reduction of the accidental micro air embolism. These results show that the above-mentioned fiber has a high potential for ECMO oxygenator.