Evidence of altered haemostasis in an ovine model of venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support.

Background: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a life-saving modality used in the management of cardiopulmonary failure that is refractory to conventional medical and surgical therapies. The major problems clinicians face are bleeding and clotting, which can occur simultaneously. To discern the impact of pulmonary injury and ECMO on the host's haemostatic response, we developed an ovine model of smoke-induced acute lung injury (S-ALI) and ECMO.

Inflammation and lung injury in an ovine model of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a life-saving treatment for patients with severe refractory cardiorespiratory failure. Exposure to the ECMO circuit is thought to trigger/exacerbate inflammation. Determining whether inflammation is the result of the patients' underlying pathologies or the ECMO circuit is difficult.

The impact of acute lung injury, ECMO and transfusion on oxidative stress and plasma selenium levels in an ovine model.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of smoke induced acute lung injury (S-ALI), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and transfusion on oxidative stress and plasma selenium levels. Forty ewes were divided into (i) healthy control (n=4), (ii) S-ALI control (n=7), (iii) ECMO control (n=7), (iv) S-ALI+ECMO (n=8) and (v) S-ALI+ECMO+packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion (n=14). Plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), selenium and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity were analysed at baseline, after smoke injury (or sham) and 0.

A comprehensive study of ovine haemostasis to assess suitability to model human coagulation.

Introduction: Similarities in size, anatomy and physiology have supported the use of sheep to model a wide range of human diseases, including coagulopathy. However, coagulation studies involving sheep are limited by the absence of high quality data defining normal ovine coagulation and fibrinolysis.

Materials And Methods: Full blood examination, routine and specialised coagulation tests, rotational thromboelastometry and whole blood platelet aggregometry was performed on 50 healthy Samm & Border Leicester Cross ewes and compared to corresponding human ranges.