A Small Oxygenator for Use with an Organ Perfusion System

An oxygenator which consists of three side-by-side silicone rubber tubes contained in coiled glass tubing is described for use with a small organ perfusion system. The oxygenator has good permeability characteristics for both O2 and CO2 with rates of gas transfer which can be varied over a wide range. There was a linear increase in O2 transfer with increasing perfusate blood-flow rates tested up to 76 ml/min. This represented an O2-transfer increment of 0.026-ml O2/ml flow. The tm=1/2 for 14CO2 washout was 8.5 min at a flow rate of 76 ml/min.