Serum Leakage Control using PP/PDMS Composite Membrane

Serum Leakage Control using PP/PDMS Composite MembraneThe artificial lung is a device used to replace the function of the lungs. The major function of the lung is to remove carbon dioxide from the venous blood and replace it with oxygen, or arterialize the blood. And the function of the artificial lung is to provide an adequate amount of oxygenated blood to all the tissues of body during the open heart surgery. Extracorporeal life support(ECLS or ECMO) is standard treatment for severe respiratory failure but poses many contributions to future lung transplantation. Artificial Lung or membrane oxygenators available today, based on microporous polypropylene fibers, are associated with two major problems. They require systemic anticoagulation of the patient and they allow serum leakage across the membrane from the blood side to the gas side during long-term use. We obtained newly fabricated polypropylene(PP)/polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS) membranes which combined PP membrane, a microporous support layer with PDMS, and we had investiaged a technique for minimizing serum lekage of polypropylene(PP) membrane. The gas permeability of each PP/PDMS membrane was almost constant before and after the whole blood test by Lee-White method, while that of PP membrane was significantly reduced. Therefore the PP/PDMS membrane could be prevented serum leakage of PP membrane. In addition, the gas permeability of $CO_2$ in PP/PDMS membrane was 11.5 times higher as compared with that of $O_2$.