2020 Volume 11 Issue 2 Pages 133-137
During blood purification under extracorporeal circulation, the temperature of the returning blood decreases naturally because of contacting the external temperature. Blood purification systems can be used with various methodologies to prevent natural decreases in temperature. However, the temperature change in the returning blood may vary depending on the heating techniques and purification conditions of different systems. In this study, we used the influent fluid heating ACH-Σ (Σ) and blood circuit heating prismaflex (PF) to examine the effects of different heating techniques and purification conditions on the returning blood temperature. These experiments were carried out at room temperature (25℃) with 37℃ warmer water circulated in both systems. The returning blood temperature was recorded by varying the blood, substitution fluid, and dialysate flow rates. When the substitution fluid and dialysate flow rates increased at room temperature, the returning blood temperature drastically decreased in the PF because of the direct flows of the substitution fluid and dialysate into the blood. Meanwhile, the blood flow rate change proportionally affected the blood return temperature irrespective of the system. We thought that this was due to the reduced contact time at room temperature with the blood circuit. In the case of the PF, the temperature decrease was minimal at low blood flow rates due to direct heating of the returning blood circuit. We conclude that the risk of hypothermia might be resolved by understanding the heating methodologies of different blood purification systems.
