Evaluation of extracorporeal circuit systems in premature clotting in continuous renal replacement therapy

Abstract

Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), which is performed in the critical care or intensive care fields, is a lengthy treatment for patients with hemodynamic instability and impaired renal function. The clotting of blood is a frequent problem during CRRT, because the treatment uses the extracorporeal circulation. To minimize the clotting problem, users need to know the characteristics of the various treatment devices, and to pursue the conditions to avoid blood clotting in the extracorporeal circuit. In this work, we compared the influence of different materials in various extracorporeal circuits for CRRT and examined the conditions for safety and long-term use. To decrease the fill ration of blood and minimize the contact area of air and blood by reducing the size of an artery, a side air trap chamber was found to be effective for a long term use of the extracorporeal circuit.