A Parallelized Pumpless Artificial Placenta System Significantly Prolonged Survival Time in a Preterm Lamb Model |
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| Authors: | Yuichiro Miura Tadashi Matsuda Haruo Usuda Shimpei Watanabe Ryuta Kitanishi Masatoshi Saito Takushi Hanita Yoshiyasu Kobayashi |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Center for Perinatal and Neonatal Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan;2. School of Women's and Infants' Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia;3. Department of Veterinary Pathology, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan |
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| Abstract: | An artificial placenta (AP) is an arterio‐venous extracorporeal life support system that is connected to the fetal circulation via the umbilical vasculature. Previously, we published an article describing a pumpless AP system with a small priming volume. We subsequently developed a parallelized system, hypothesizing that the reduced circuit resistance conveyed by this modification would enable healthy fetal survival time to be prolonged. We conducted experiments using a premature lamb model to test this hypothesis. As a result, the fetal survival period was significantly prolonged (60.4 ± 3.8 vs. 18.2 ± 3.2 h, P < 0.01), and circuit resistance and minimal blood lactate levels were significantly lower in the parallel circuit group, compared with our previous single circuit group. Fetal physiological parameters remained stable until the conclusion of the experiments. In summary, parallelization of the AP system was associated with reduced circuit resistance and lactate levels and allowed preterm lamb fetuses to survive for a significantly longer period when compared with previous studies. |
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| Keywords: | Artificial placenta Parallelized circuit Preterm lamb model |
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