An extracorporeal life support device control system and method arranged to provide suitable gas and blood flow rates through an extracorporeal life support device. The control system comprises: a sensor arranged to detect and output a measurand, wherein the measurand is characteristic of a single autonomic nervous system output defining a metabolic demand; and a controller arranged to receive the measurand, and further arranged to control, according to the measurand: gas and/or liquid flow rates through an extracorporeal life support device; wherein the flow rates are arranged to provide blood gas concentrations similar to those arising from healthy lungs at the metabolic demand. In the case of patients with healthy lungs, the control system can control the blood flow rate without controlling gas flow rates through an oxygenator.

An extracorporeal blood treatment device with a function-monitoring system, wherein the extracorporeal blood treatment device for connection to the vascular system of a patient has an input branch and an output branch. The extracorporeal blood treatment device is equipped, in a first circuit, with at least one first pump arranged between the input branch and output branch for moving the patient's blood, and, in a second circuit filled with liquid and thermally connected to the first circuit of the extracorporeal blood treatment device via a heat exchanger, it has temperature-influencing means. The function-monitoring system has, in the second circuit, two temperature sensors which are arranged upstream (TS2.sub.auf) and downstream (TS2.sub.ab), respectively, with respect to the heat exchanger, in addition, temperature sensor TS1.sub.ab is arranged in the output branch of the first circuit, downstream from the heat exchanger. The function-monitoring system moreover comprises a computer system which is operatively connected to the aforementioned temperature sensors and the temperature-influencing means and which, after the temperature has been influenced, establishes, from the detected temperature values, corresponding thermodilution curves (TDK1.sub.ab, TDK2.sub.ab, TDK2.sub.auf) and, in order to determine an indicator of the function of the extracorporeal blood treatment device, relates the TDK2.sub.ab and the TDK.sub.1ab to each other.

A bioartificial liver (BAL) based on human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-derived hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) and a multilayer porous bioreactor is provided. The plasma separation/retransfusion loop part includes a blood input pipe, an exhaust pipe spring clamp, a blood input peristaltic pump, a heparin pump, a plasma separation column, a first pressure monitor, and a heater. The cell reactor/plasma component exchange double-loop part includes a plasma input peristaltic pump, and a semipermeable membrane exchange column, a plasma exchange peristaltic pump, a red blood cell (RBC) pool, a membrane lung, a multilayer porous bioreactor, a second pressure monitor, and a third pressure monitor arranged in a 37° C. dedicated incubator. An outlet of the third pressure monitor and a blood cell outlet are connected to an inlet of the first pressure monitor, and then connected to the heater and a blood output pipe in sequence.

An endovascular apparatus comprises a catheter shaft constructed and designed for insertion into a venous vessel of a patient; a capture thread positioned in at least one lumen of the catheter shaft and extending from a proximal end of the catheter shaft to a distal end of the catheter shaft for capturing components of a bodily fluid from the patient, the catheter shaft including a plurality of ports for exposing the capture thread to the bodily fluid of the patient; and an enclosure coupled to the proximal end of the catheter shaft. The enclosure includes a feed vessel in communication with a first end of the capture thread and a collection vessel in communication with a second end of the capture thread; and a drive system that controls a movement of the capture thread in the catheter shaft from the feed vessel to the collection vessel.

A dual lumen drainage cannula configured for use in a VA ECMO system includes a first drainage tube having a proximal end, a distal end, and at least one aperture in at least one wall of the first drainage tube proximate to the distal end of the first drainage tube, and a second drainage tube having a proximal end, a distal end, and at least one aperture in at least one wall of the second drainage tube proximate to the distal end of the second drainage tube. The first drainage tube passes through the second drainage tube. The dual lumen drainage cannula also includes a sleeve positioned adjacent to an interior wall of the second drainage tube. The sleeve is formed of a flexible material so as to be expandable and collapsible within the second drainage tube.

Embodiments of the present invention provide an extra corporeal membrane oxygenation circuit, wherein a pump communicates blood from a patient to an oxygenator and thence back to the patient, comprising: (a) a medium diameter venous line configured to accept blood from the patient and communicate the blood to the pump; (b) a medium diameter arterial line configured to accept blood from the oxygenator and communicate the blood to the patient; (c) one or more shunts connected in a series, where each shunt comprises a medium diameter input connected to a medium diameter output, where the medium diameter output is configured to connect to a medium diameter input of a successive shunt; a small diameter outlet between the medium diameter input and the medium diameter output; and a stopcock connected to the small diameter output such that flow out of the small diameter outlet can be controlled by the stopcock; wherein a first of such shunts is connected to accept blood from the venous line in parallel with the pump and wherein a last of such shunts is connected to communicate blood to the arterial line.

The present disclosure provides an assessment of a physiological parameter of a patient connected to an extracorporeal blood oxygenation circuit, wherein the extracorporeal blood oxygenation circuit includes a pump imparting at least a partial flow of blood through the extracorporeal blood oxygenation circuit. A controller and sensors are provided for monitoring an interaction between the pump performance and the physiological parameters of the patient connected to an extracorporeal blood oxygenation circuit. The physiological parameters of the patient include cardiac output and stroke volume. By observing the value of the withdrawn and/or delivered blood flow and/or its fluctuations or a parameter related to this blood flow and/or its fluctuations, an assessment of the physiological parameters of the patient is provided noninvasively and continuously.

An extension cannula and in-line connector for use with a conventional ECMO return cannula is provided. The extension cannula includes a flexible conduit transitionable between a collapsed insertion state and an expanded deployed state when in communication with blow flow from an ECMO machine via the ECMO return cannula. The extension cannula may be positioned through a conventional ECMO return cannula such that the proximal end of the flexible conduit is disposed within and proximal to the end of the ECMO return cannula, while the distal end of the flexible conduit is disposed in a patient's thoracic aorta to deliver oxygenated blood directly to the patient's thoracic aorta via one or more pores at the distal region of the flexible conduit to improve cerebral oxygenation, maintain systemic arterial pulsatility, and reduce the potential for end-organ injury.

A blood oxygenator has a housing with a first end opposite a second end and a sidewall extending between the first end and the second end along a longitudinal axis. The housing may define an interior chamber having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet. The blood oxygenator further has a gas exchange medium positioned within the interior chamber. The gas exchange medium may have a plurality of hollow fibers rolled into a spiral shape. The blood oxygenator further has a flow diverter positioned within the interior chamber and configured for guiding fluid flow through the gas exchange medium.

Hollow fiber membranes in an oxygenator for an extracorporeal blood circulator are coated with an antithrombotic polymeric material. The porous hollow fiber membranes for gas exchange have outer surfaces, inner surfaces forming lumens, opening portions through which the outer surfaces communicate with the inner surfaces in a housing. A blood flow path is outside of the hollow fiber membrane bundle in the housing, between a blood inlet port and a blood outlet port. The coating is obtained by filling the blood flow path with a colloidal solution containing an antithrombotic polymeric compound, and moving the colloid solution between the blood inlet port and the blood outlet port for a time that coats a predetermined amount of antithrombotic polymeric compound on the outer surfaces of the hollow fiber membranes. Other surfaces within the oxygenator contacting the blood flow likewise receive the coating.