The extracorporeal pump filter--saint or sinner?
An arterial line filter can become a grave source of platelet and fibrin destruction, with widespread deposition on the filter to form a membrane across the mesh, as proved by careful scanning electron microscopy. The same filter, when subjected to the low flows of the cardiotomy line, was well tolerated and served a very useful function. There was a 260% improvement in platelet counts and a 170% reduction in chest drainage when the arterial line filter was not used, perhaps through elimination of a degree of consumptive coagulopathy. Neurological changes did not occur in the absence of the arterial line filter, and operative mortality was 4.8% (5 of 103 patients).
D001792:Blood Platelets; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005337:Fibrin; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006355:Heart-Lung Machine / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000517:prevention & control*
D005337:Fibrin