To-and-for extracorporeal lung assist (ECLA) through a single catheter-in premature goats as an experimental model of infant respiratory Insufficiency.

A new to-and-fro V-V bypass extracorporeal lung assist (ECLA) through a single catheter as a blood access was investigated for its efficacy on six premature goats delivered by Cesarean section at a gestational age of 118 approximately 139 days as an experimental model of infant respiratory insufficiency, then applied to a human premature infant suffering from life threatening barotrauma that had developed from mechanical pulmonary ventilation. The extracorporeal bypass flow and the gas flow to the artificial membrane lung were controlled to keep Pa(O)(2) above 40 mmHg and Pa(CO)(2) within normal limits. The neonate's own lungs were treated with a continuous positive airway pressure of 5 approximately 12 cmH(2)O, apneic oxygenation or IMV. Two goats weighing 1250 g and 700 g died 2 approximately 2.5 hours after birth from severe circulatory distress. However, the other four neonates which were heavier than 2000 g, were successfully weaned from ECLA, and three of these could be weaned from mechanical ventilation as well. A human infant also survived and was weaned from ECLA on the third day.(Tanoue T, Terasaki H, Sadanaga M et al.: To-and-fro extracorporeal lung assist (ECLA) through a single catheter-in premature goats as an experimental model of infant respiratory insufficiency.