title: Improvement in suction catheter efficiency and safety in arterial operations.
abstract: The Blood Shield is a new device which has been developed to attach easily to the tip of a conventional suction catheter. Two experiments were performed to determine if the Blood Shield could limit the degree of splash which occurs during vascular graft flushing and whether it could increase the efficiency of a standard suction tip in collecting shed blood for autotransfusion. The results of the experiments indicate that the Blood Shield, when added to a conventional suction catheter, diminishes the amount of spray which may occur during anastomotic flushing. Secondly, it more effectively collects blood from a flushed anastomosis or arteriotomy in comparison with a suction catheter alone.
authors.affiliation: Michigan State University, Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Simoni
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Munn
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000295:instrumentation; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical; D001804:Blood Transfusion, Autologous / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D017848:Blood-Borne Pathogens; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013396:Suction / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation*