Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Mar;40(1):21-6.

Arterial line filters ranked for gaseous micro-emboli separation performance: an in vitro study

Jeffrey B Riley  1
Affiliations

Arterial line filters ranked for gaseous micro-emboli separation performance: an in vitro study

Jeffrey B Riley. J Extra Corpor Technol. 2008 Mar.

Abstract

Arterial line filters (ALFs) are arguably the most important component in the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit to protect the patient from gaseous macro- and micro-emboli (GME) originating in the perfusion circuit. The GME separating ability of 10 ALFs was ranked according to seven performance criteria. Ten ALFs rated between 20 and 43 microm were evaluated for flow resistance, the count, size, and volume of GME passed after a 10-mL room air bolus, and the ability to separate a high-count, 10- to 200-microm flowing distribution of GME. The Luna Innovations EDAC emboli detector was used to size, count, and sort GME. Three test trials were conducted for 3 each of the 10 filters. Performance criteria were correlated by regression analysis, statistically compared using analysis of variance, or ranked using non-parametric tests. Significance was set at 0.05. Weighting all seven test parameters equally, the most effective ALFs were the Cobe 21 and Gish 25-microm filters. The Pall LG-6 ranked more efficient than the Medtronic 20 and Dideco 27-microm filters. The Cobe 43, Terumo 40, Medtronic 38, Terumo 37, and Gish 40-microm filters were less effective as a group compared with the other filters. For the 10 filters, blood flow resistance was not correlated to rated pore size. Generally, the smaller the pore rating, the higher the GME separation ability rank, except for the leuko-reduction filter, which performed more effectively than other large pore filters.

Keywords: arterial line filter, gaseous microemboli, in vitro test.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Test arterial line filters were provided to the author by manufacturers at no cost in accordance with federal anti-kickback statues. JBR serves as a clinical advisory board member to Luna Innovations, Blackburg, VA.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Arterial line filter in vitro test circuit.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
An example filter step-wave profile for the GME measured during the flowing GME test. The figure is a screen capture of the filter GME cut-off size test. The square wave effect on the left screen is created by clamping the arterial line filter into and out of the arterial line while a high count of a wide distribution of bubble size emboli are flowed into the filter.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
An example filter outlet GME profile measured during the room air bolus.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Boxplot of filter average peak GME released during room air bolus.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Boxplot of filter average GME release times during room air bolus.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Boxplot of filter average GME volume released during room air bolus
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Pressure drop boxplots for 10 models of ECC arterial line filters.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pugsley W, Klinger L, Paschalis C, et al. . The impact of microemboli during cardiopulmonary bypass on neuropsychological functioning. Stroke. 1994;25:1393–9. - PubMed
    1. Whitaker DC, Stuygall JA, Newman S.. The use of leukocyte-depleting and conventional arterial line filters in cardiac surgery: A systematic review of clinical studies. Perfusion. 2001;15:433–46. - PubMed
    1. Taggaft DP, Bhattacharya K, Meston N, et al. . Serum S-100 protein concentration after cardiac surgery: A randomized trial of arterial line filtration. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 1997;11:645–9. - PubMed
    1. Jones TJ, Deal DD, Vernon JC, Blackburn N, Stump DA.. How effective are cardiopulmonary bypass circuits at removing gaseous microemboli? J Extra Corpor Technol. 2002;34:34–9. - PubMed
    1. Borger MA, Peniston CM, Weisel RD, Vasiliou M, Green REA, Feindel CM.. Neuropsychologic impairment after coronary bypass surgery: effect of gaseous microemboli during perfusionist interventions. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2001;121:743–9. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources