Long-term in vivo study of gas diffusion in bilaminar compliance chambers

The problem of gas diffusion from compliance chambers in long-term pulsatile blood pump implantation continues. To evaluate and predict gas diffusion at the intrathoracic tissue interface, eight air-filled static bilaminar compliance chambers were implanted in four calves for a mean duration of 191 days. Mean volume loss was 40.3 +/- 6.2 ml (0.2 ml/day) compared with previous results of 1.2 ml/day for pure Hexsyn diaphragms. The residual gas in the chamber was analyzed as nitrogen = 89.6 +/- 0.6%; oxygen = 1.5 +/- 1.1%; and carbon dioxide = 8.8 +/- 0.6%. The resulting gas composition is assumed equivalent to that of the tissue interface and was used in developing a diffusion model. For a complete left ventricular assist system (LVAS), gas diffusion at the arterial blood and tissue interface was simulated. The predicted time to reach a minimum volume of 90 ml (compliance volume equal to full pump stroke volume) was in excess of 1 year.