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The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 104, 1647-1653, Copyright © 1992 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
KQ Schwarz, CC Church, P Serrino and RS Meltzer
Cardiopulmonary bypass-associated encephalopathy is thought to be due in
part to continuous microembolization of the brain with gas microbubbles
more than 40 microns in diameter during bypass. Current barrier filter
technology cannot effectively remove such small microbubbles in fragile
fluids such as blood. The design concepts for a new nonbarrier
ultrasound-based fluid filtration system (an "acoustic filter") capable of
filtering small microbubbles from blood are presented. The acoustic filter
uses a field of high-intensity ultrasound to push microbubbles down an
acoustic gradient, where they can be collected and removed. To test the
filtration efficiency of the system, a Doppler ultrasound bubble detector
was built. By monitoring the prefilter and postfilter Doppler signal an
assessment of filtration efficiency was made. A suspension of stable
albumin-encapsulated microbubbles (4 to 32 microns) were used as a model of
the microbubble contaminants that might be found in the arterial return
line of the heart-lung machine. Inactivated, the acoustic filter neither
removed nor added microbubbles to the fluid. Activated, the acoustic filter
provided total or near-total clearing of microbubbles. We conclude that the
acoustic filter can remove microbubbles from a cardiopulmonary bypass-like
apparatus.
ARTICLES
The acoustic filter: an ultrasonic blood filter for the heart-lung machine
Cardiology Unit, University of Rochester, N.Y. 14642.
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M. Barak and Y. Katz Microbubbles: Pathophysiology and Clinical Implications Chest, October 1, 2005; 128(4): 2918 - 2932. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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