Leakage across hollow-fibre membranes in oxygenators: a pilot study

The purpose of this study was to create an in vitro system to quantify the fluid loss over two different types of hollow-fibre membrane oxygenators. In the first stage of the study, the circuit was primed with 0.9% NaCl and the line pressure was 200 mmHg; in the second stage, the line pressure was 400 mmHg. The experiment was repeated using bovine blood. A clear difference (p < 0.005) was found in the first stage, accumulating to 47.46 ml (SD 0.41) in the Capiox-SX group and 72.33 ml (SD 3.77) in the Univox group after 4 h. This difference persisted when using bovine blood. Surprisingly, no differences in volume loss occurred when the line pressure was increased to 400 mmHg. In conclusion, leakage in hollow-fibre microporous polypropylene membrane oxygenators can be quantified and the amount of leakage appears to be dependent on the type of membrane and the manufacturing process.