HYBRID RESPIRATORY SUPPORT SYSTEM WITh EXTRACORPOREAL PLACENTAL OXYGENATION

Abstract

A novel hybrid respiratory support system was developed using a human placenta. In this system, patient's blood is oxygenated with 02 saturated artificial blood across villous membrane during passage through the fetal circuit of a placenta which is placed in a specially constructed artificial uterus. Human term placentas were obtained immediately after vaginal delivery and served for experiments. The gas transfer performance of the system was 60 ml/min for O₂ and 40 ml/min for CO₂ at a blood flow rate of 1l/min. From these results and assured antithrombogenicity of the placenta, we conclude that this system will become one of the most promising modalities for prolonged extracorporeal oxygenation without anticoagulant.