Timing of heparin and perfusion temperature during procurement of organs with extracorporeal support in donors after circulatory determination of death.

Despite successful resuscitation of donors after circulatory determination of death (DCD) with extracorporeal support (ECS), the technique is limited by ethical concerns about donor management (heparinization) and the complexity to operate the ECS circuit. This work studies different timing of heparin administration and the effects of ECS-perfusion temperature. Cardiac arrest (CA) was induced in swine.

Quantification of thermal spread and burst pressure after endoscopic vessel harvesting: a comparison of 2 commercially available devices.

Objective: Endoscopic vein harvesting systems have grown in popularity and are becoming the gold standard for coronary artery bypass grafting. Although a consensus is present that endoscopic vessel harvesting minimizes wound complications, long-term graft patency remains a concern. It has been proposed that endoscopic vessel harvesting affects graft patency because of irreversible trauma to the endothelium.

Organ donation after cardiac determination of death (DCD): a swine model.

Donors after Cardiac Death (DCD) may reduce the organ scarcity; however, their use is limited because of warm ischemia time. Fortunately, this is less important in a subclass of DCD called expected (e-DCD), those with irreversible but incomplete brain injury. This study analyzed hemodynamic/pulmonary data to establish a clinically relevant model of cardiac death that would simulate an e-DCD setting.

Large animal model of chronic pulmonary hypertension.

A large animal model is needed to study artificial lung attachment in a setting simulating chronic lung disease with significant pulmonary hypertension (PH). This study sought to create a sheep model that develops significant PH within 60 days with a low rate of mortality. Sephadex beads were injected in the pulmonary circulation of sheep every other day for 60 days at doses of 0.

Thirty-day in-parallel artificial lung testing in sheep.

Background: Thirty-day testing of the MC3 Biolung (MC3 Inc, Ann Arbor, MI) total artificial lung (TAL) was performed to prepare for future clinical testing.

Methods: TAL inlet and outlet grafts were sewn to the pulmonary artery and left atrium of 8 sheep (35.6 +/- 1.

Seven-day artificial lung testing in an in-parallel configuration.

Background: A thoracic artificial lung, the MC3 Biolung, is being developed as a bridge to lung transplantation or as a treatment for acute respiratory insufficiency.

Methods: The thoracic artificial lung was tested in 10 sheep with the goal of 7 days of respiratory support. The sheep were recovered from surgery and monitored awake for 7 days.