Anin vitrocomparison of the ability of three commonly used pediatric cardiopulmonary bypass circuits to filter gaseous microemboli

Melchior, Richard W
Rosenthal, Tami
Glatz, Andrew C

¹Department of Perfusion Services, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
²The Division of Cardiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Corresponding author:

Richard Melchior The Cardiac Center 34^th and Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104 Email: [email protected]

Presented at the 31st Annual Seminar of The American Academy of Cardiovascular Perfusion, Nashville, Tennessee, 28–31 January 2010 and also at the AmSECT Pediatric Perfusion 2009 Meeting, Dallas, Texas, 29–31 October 2010.

Perfusion 25(4):p 255-263, July 2010. | DOI: 10.1177/0267659110375489

Abstract

Background:

The purpose of this study was to compare the ability of three commonly used pediatric cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuits to filter gaseous microemboli (GME) in an in vitro model.

Methods:

Devices were tested at different levels of two specific independent variables: volume of air injected (1, 3, 5ml) and percentage of each oxygenator's rated flow (50%, 75%, 100%, 125%). The air-handling ability of each CPB circuit was determined by the Emboli Detection and Classification Quantifier (Luna Innovations Inc., Roanoke, VA).

Results:

At all tested conditions, the FX-05 allowed a higher percentage of GME when compared to either one or both of the other two CPB circuits. When comparing oxygenators at similar absolute flow rates, the KIDS D100/D130 CPB circuit performed worse compared to the other two CPB circuits.

Conclusions:

The combination of the Baby RX-05 oxygenator and Capiox AF02 arterial line filter provides the highest level of protection from air emboli in an in vitro investigation.