Hemolytic characteristics of three commercially available centrifugal blood pumps.
OBJECTIVE
As compared with traditional extracorporeal roller-occlusion blood pumps, nonocclusive centrifugal pumps offer the benefits of requiring a smaller circuit surface area and, thus, a smaller prime volume. However, centrifugal blood pumps have been reported to generate unacceptable levels of hemolysis. We hypothesize that the newer generation centrifugal pumps have an incidence of hemolysis similar to the traditional roller head pumps and, thus, could be used for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation circuits.


METHODS
Randomized, prospective, bench study.


METHODS
University research laboratory.


METHODS
Three centrifugal blood pumps (Cobe Revolution, Jostra Rotaflow, and Medtronic BioMedicus) were compared with a roller occlusion blood pump (Cobe Century). Hemolysis generation was examined during 6 hrs of continuous use. Two test runs per group were randomly performed on three consecutive days for a total of six test runs for each of the four pumps (n = 24).


RESULTS
Plasma free hemoglobin values were determined using a Spectra MaxPlus spectrophotometer. A normalized index of hemolysis was calculated to compare the individual trials. The Cobe Revolution and the Jostra Rotaflow compared favorably with the Cobe Century roller occlusion blood pump in the amount of hemolysis produced.


CONCLUSIONS
These data are encouraging for the development of a low-prime, mobile neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation circuit using centrifugal pump technology.
Lawson
D Scott
DS
Department of Perfusion Services, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA.
Ing
Richard
R
Cheifetz
Ira M
IM
Walczak
Rich
R
Craig
Damian
D
Schulman
Scott
S
Kern
Frank
F
Shearer
Ian R
IR
Lodge
Andrew
A
Jaggers
James
J
D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002417:Cattle; D002498:Centrifugation; D004867:Equipment Design; D015199:Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006461:Hemolysis; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D013997:Time Factors
D006454:Hemoglobins