Development of a fluorinated polyimide hollow fiber for medical devices

 We fabricated an asymmetric polyimide hollow fiber for medical devices. A dry/wet phase inversion process was applied to a spinning process to prepare the hollow fiber. The outer diameter was 330 μm with a wall thickness of 70 μm. Transfer rates of O₂ and CO₂ in the asymmetric polyimide fiber were 6.9 × 10⁻³ and 5.5 × 10⁻³ cm³ (STP)/(cm² s cmHg), respectively, which are approximately 10 times higher than those measured in the Menox and Si-polypropylene fibers of the presently available membrane oxygenators. The blood compatibility of the polyimide hollow fiber was evaluated in vivo, indicating that polyimide had excellent blood compatibility when compared with silicone-coated fiber. Additionally, we fabricated a novel porous membrane with three-dimensional fine structure from cylindrical microscale pores and examined possibility of a porous membrane for use in hemodialysis. Received: October 3, 2002 / Accepted: February 20, 2003 Acknowledgments This work was supported by a JSAO Grant. The authors wish to thank Mr. K. Kuwana of Senko Medical Instrument Mfg. Co., Ltd., for providing the Si-PP hollow fibers and Mr. K. Sakai of Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc., for providing the Menox hollow fibers. Also the authors thank Dr. S. Nagaoka, Mr. M. Niwa, and Ms. Y. Taketani of Tokyo Metropolitan University for their useful comments.