title: Development of a new control device for stabilizing blood level in reservoir during extracorporeal circulation.
abstract: We developed a simple device that stabilizes the blood level in the reservoir of the extracorporeal circulation open circuit system by measuring the hydrostatic pressure of the reservoir to control the flow rate of the arterial pump. When the flow rate of the venous return decreases, the rotation speed of the arterial pump is automatically slowed down. Consequently, the blood level in the reservoir is stabilized quickly between two arbitrarily set levels and never falls below the pre-set low level. We conducted a basic experiment to verify the operation of the device, using a mock circuit with water. Commercially available pumps and reservoir were used without modification. The results confirmed that the control method effectively regulates the reservoir liquid level and is highly reliable. The device possibly also functions as a safety device.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Engineering, Saitama Medical Center, Jichi Medical School, Omiya, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Momose
authors.forename: Rie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yamakoshi
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kokubo
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
authors.forename: Chinori
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Umeda
authors.forename: Itsuro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Mitsunobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yanagisawa
authors.forename: Yasuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tomizawa
mesh_terms: D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001810:Blood Volume; D004867:Equipment Design; D004869:Equipment Safety; D005112:Extracorporeal Circulation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D006874:Hydrostatic Pressure; D007260:Infusion Pumps; D014690:Venous Pressure