We report on the application of a venovenous type extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) in high-risk tracheal procedures in six cases consisting of five patients with tracheal stenosis. An ECMO should be helpful for preventing respiratory emergency during a tracheal procedure.

BACKGROUND Although cardiopulmonary bypass is associated with systemic complement activation and neutrophil sequestration, it is unclear whether bypass-induced vascular injury is localized and dependent on organ ischemia. We hypothesized that other factors perhaps related to placement of a bypass circuit or to blood perfusion of a pump-oxygenator system may produce vascular injury caused by sys...

Objective: Long-term extracorporeal lung assist is limited by a signi®cant mechanical blood trauma resulting in bleeding and hemolysis. To reduce the drawbacks of extracorporeal lung assist a new technique has been developed, by which the driving force for the extracorporeal circuit derives from the patients arterio-venous pressure gradient (pumpless extracorporeal lung assist). The aim of this...

The oxygenator described here arose out of the need to dispense with homologous blood in animal perfusions. It was considered that this could best be attained with an oxygenator having a priming volume sufficiently small to allow the use of isotonic solutions without undue dilution and consistent with full gas exchange and adequate temperature control. It was recognized that modifications to ex...

The delivery of gaseous microemboli (GME) by the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit should be minimized whenever possible. Innovations in components, such as the integration of arterial line filter (ALF) and ALFs with reduced priming volumes, have provided clinicians with circuit design options. However, before adopting these components clinically, their GME handling ability should be assessed. Thi...

The Rygg-Kyvsgaard oxygenator employed in extracorporeal circulation (Fig. 1) was designed on the basis of experience gained from experimental operations on dogs (Rygg, Engell, and Kyvsgaard, 1956; Rygg and Kyvsgaard, 1957; Gammelgaard, Husfeldt, and Therkelsen, 1957; Rygg and Kyvsgaard, 1958; Rygg, 1958). However, in experimental operations the opportunities of assessing its oxygenation and ca...

Advancement in oxygenator membrane technology has further expanded the boundaries in the clinical application of extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R). Despite the advent of modern poly-4-methyl-1-pentene (PMP) membranes, limited information exists on the performance of these membranes at low sweep gas and blood flows. Moreover, physiological relationships for CO2 removal at these flow...

The membrane oxygenator has replaced the bubble oxygenator in a wide variety of clinical settings. The membrane oxygenators now manufactured can be grouped into three categories based on composition and design: (1) silicone with a true membrane structure; (2) polypropylene with a microporous sheet; and (3) polypropylene with a microtubular structure. The capacity for fentanyl uptake by membrane...