[Membrane oxygenators of the blood]

The development, application and construction of membrane oxygenators are reviewed. Although far from the perfection of the natural lung whose "poor" copy they are, these oxygenators represent an important stage of development of extracorporeal oxygenation of blood. From among the designs proposed so far these oxygenators are the least traumatic to blood, particularly as compared with the direct contacting oxygenators (bubbles and films oxygenators) and are the only ones suitable for long term clinical application in pulmonary and cardiac insufficiency treatment. Silicones are the most frequently used membrane material. The search for new membrane materials of high respiratory gases permeability as well as good blood compatibility is, apart from the studies on new designs, the main area of investigation on membrane oxygenators. Porous teflon membranes seem to be the most promising material.