Publications by authors named "Stefan Caspari"
Article Synopsis
- ECMO is a life-saving treatment for patients with severe lung injuries, but sometimes it fails to improve low oxygen levels in the blood.
- Some patients have been treated with a second membrane lung connected either in series (one after the other) or in parallel (side by side) to help with this issue, but it's unclear which method works better.
- Testing showed that using two lungs in a series configuration was 17% more effective at transferring oxygen compared to a parallel setup, but more research is needed before this approach can be widely adopted due to its invasive nature.
Low flow extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) is a promising approach to correct hypercapnic lung failure, facilitate lung protective ventilation in acute respiratory distress syndrome and to possibly prevent the application of invasive ventilation. However, the predominant availability of adult membrane lungs (MLs) at most intensive care units are burdens for low flow ECCO2R that intends to reduce cannula size and promote the mobility of the patients. Herein, in a mock setup, we combine the idea of a low flow ECCO2R and the use of adult MLs by installing a recirculation channel into the circuit and comparing the new setup to an already clinically established setup, "the Homburg lung.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExtracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has become an important therapeutic approach in the COVID-19 pandemic. The development and research in this field strongly relies on animal models; however, efforts are being made to find alternatives. In this work, we present a new mock circuit for ECMO that allows measurements of the oxygen transfer rate of a membrane lung at full ECMO blood flow.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCOR) is vital for treating severe lung conditions like COPD and ARDS, and this study compares different membrane lung designs to assess their CO2 removal efficiency.* -
- The research tested circular and parallel-plated membrane lungs under various gas and blood flow rates, revealing that circular lungs perform better at low gas flow rates (0.5 L/min), while parallel-plated designs excel at medium (2-4 L/min) and high (6 L/min) flow rates.* -
- Findings suggest that the unique fiber orientation of circular lungs reduces shunting, making them potentially more efficient for low flow situations, which could be important for developing portable ECCOR devices in the future