Open-Heart Surgery without the Need for Donor-Blood Priming in the Pump Oxygenator

THIS is a report of a pump-oxygenator system and a technic for extracorporeal perfusion without the use of donor blood for priming. Such a technic yields increased safety for the patient and makes possible a wider application of heart-lung bypass procedures.Most pump-oxygenation technics have a major disadvantage in that they require large volumes of blood for initial priming. Procurement of such quantities presents a difficult problem for the blood bank and the community. As more blood is administered in any given case, there is an increased risk in mismatching, reactions, as yet unexplained bleeding syndromes and late sequelae such . . .