The procedure to place antegrade hemodynamic support (AHS) combine currently available procedures and devices in a unique fashion to solve a significant problem for patients who need large bore hernodynarnic support. The AHS procedure involves delivering an AHS device or a catheter connected to an AHS device to a patient's aorta in an antegrade fashion, alleviating the workload on the patient's heart and supporting the patient hemodynamically to maintain normal functions of the body organs.

The present invention relates to an extracorporeal circuit for CO.sub.2 removal from blood comprising a line for taking blood from the patient, a decarboxylation assembly and a line for returning the blood to the patient; said decarboxylation assembly comprising a first filtering unit, an oxygenator, an electrodialyzer adapted to generate an acid solution and a basic solution and means for the infusion of said acid solution upstream of said oxygenator, wherein said electrodialyzer comprises a first electrodialysis chamber and a second electrodialysis chamber, said first and second electrodialysis chambers being separated by an ionic membrane, and wherein said first chamber and said second chamber are respectively separated from the positive electrode, or anode, and from the negative electrode, or cathode, by means of a bipolar membrane.

Disclosed is a blood oxygenator. The blood oxygenator includes a blood inlet chamber, and a housing. A hollow cavity is arranged in the housing, and includes a heat exchange zone and a gas exchange zone. Multiple heat exchange filaments are arranged in the heat exchange zone. Multiple hollow fibrous membrane fibers are arranged in the gas exchange zone. The blood inlet chamber includes an inverted conical side wall and an end surface hermetically connected to an opening at one end of the inverted conical side wall, an opening at the other end of the inverted conical side wall is hermetically connected to one end of the housing, and the other end of the housing is hermetically connected with a cover body. The cover body is provided with a blood outlet, and the end surface is provided with a spiral liquid inlet pipe coaxial with the blood inlet chamber.

A blood processing apparatus includes an optional heat exchanger and a gas exchanger disposed within a housing. In some instances, the gas exchanger can include a screen filter spirally wound into the gas exchanger such that blood passing through the gas exchanger passes through the screen filter and is filtered by the spirally wound screen filter a plurality of times.

An oxygen supply unit for use with a blood oxygenator comprises an oxygen concentrator and a carbon dioxide scrubber. In an on-line operational mode, oxygen-rich gas from the oxygen concentrator is predominantly supplied to the blood oxygenator with a reduced flow of recycled gas from the concentrator. In an off-line operational mode where the oxygen supply unit is being powered by battery only, a larger flow of recycled gas from the blood oxygenator is passed through the carbon dioxide scrubber and combined with a lesser amount of oxygen-rich gas from the oxygen concentrator. The oxygen supply unit may be used in combination with a blood pump and oxygenator to provide ambulatory blood oxygenation to patients with compromised lung function.

A system for perfusing a localized site within a body includes a catheter assembly having a venous access line that is adapted to deliver perfusate to the localized site, a venous or arterial drainage line adapted to drain perfusate from the localized site, and an occlusion device adapted to prevent some or substantially all physiological blood flow between the localized site and the systemic circulation of the body during and in the course of perfusing and draining perfusate to and from the localized site. The system may include a blood circuit associated with the catheter assembly to facilitate blood conditioning for use as the perfusate, in the course of a controlled perfusion and/or drainage of untreated, treated, or inactivated treated blood to and from the localized site. A delivery machine may control the blood circuit and catheter assembly in order to both deliver perfusate to, and drain some or all perfusate from, the localized site in a manner that provides perfusate to substantially only the localized site.

A system for cardiopulmonary bypass, including: a cardiopulmonary bypass reservoir configured to store a blood; a pump in fluid communication with the cardiopulmonary bypass reservoir configured to provide pressure to the system; an oxygen source including a pressure regulator configured to regulate an oxygen pressure; an oxygenator fluidly connected to the pressure regulator of the oxygen source via an sweep gas inlet, wherein the sweep gas inlet is configured to have a subatmospheric pressure and the oxygenator is configured to oxygenate the blood; a vacuum regulator fluidly connected to the oxygenator via an sweep gas outlet, and configured to provide the subatmospheric pressure; a flow restrictor fluidly connected to the sweep gas inlet and configured to allow for a pressure drop from the oxygen source to the oxygenator; and an arterial filter fluidly connected to a blood outlet of the oxygenator and to the cardiopulmonary bypass reservoir.

A hollow fiber membrane bundle configured to be used in an artificial lung and comprised of integrated hollow fiber membranes 31 has hollow portions through which a fluid passes. The hollow fiber membrane bundle is shaped as a cylinder body. In addition, the hollow fiber membrane 31 is tilted with respect to a central axis O of the cylinder body, is wound around the central axis O of the cylinder body, and satisfies the following conditions. An inner diameter d.sub.1 of the hollow fiber membrane 31 is equal to or smaller than 150 m, a tilt angle with respect to the central axis O of the cylinder body of the hollow fiber membrane 31 is equal to or smaller than 60, and a ratio D.sub.1/L of an outer diameter D.sub.1 of the cylinder body to a length L of the cylinder body is equal to or greater than 0.4.

An extracorporeal blood circulation system reduces the risk of generation of air bubbles entering the circulation circuit associated with placement of a pressure sensor that detects a patient's blood pressure at a blood removal line. Instead of directly measuring pressure at the blood removal line where suction exists, an intermediate part pressure sensor detects pressure between a centrifugal pump and an oxygenator. A controller identifies a discharge pressure specific to the centrifugal pump based on a rotation speed of the pump and a blood flow rate. The discharge pressure and the intermediate pressure values are combined to estimate the pressure at the blood removal line.

A cannula device for the circulation of the blood in an artificial lung, includes: an aspiration lumen including at least one orifice permitting the aspiration of a volume of blood; an injection lumen including at least one orifice permitting the injection of a volume of blood, wherein the injection lumen and the aspiration lumen are held rigidly connected over at least a portion of their length, the lumens being sealed in relation to each other, the injection lumen having a deformable element, which is held on a portion of the distal end thereof, the deformable element having a first setting and a second setting, the change from the first setting to the second setting being effected by a modification of the diameter of the deformable element.