EXTRACORPOREAL MEMBRANE OXYGENATION (ECMO) IS A TERM GIVEN TO A CLINICAL PROCEDURE USED TO PROVIDE RESPIRATORY SUPPORT FOR ILL NEONATES.

EXTRACORPOREAL MEMBRANE OXYGENATION (ECMO) IS A TERM GIVEN TO A CLINICAL PROCEDURE USED TO PROVIDE RESPIRATORY SUPPORT FOR ILL NEONATES. THIS PROCEDURE REQUIRES ACCESS TO TWO SOURCES OF VENOUS BLOOD WHEN PERFORMING THE PROCEDURE AS VENO-VENOUS (VV) BY-PASS. BLOOD IS DRAINED FROM THE RIGHT ATRIUM VIA A CANNULA IN THE RIGHT JUGULAR VEIN, OXYGENATED BY A MEMBRANE LUNG AND RETURNED VIA THE FEMORAL VEIN. THE DRAWBACKS OF THIS TECHNIQUE ARE THE ADDED TIME FOR CANNULA- TION AND LOWER EXTREMITY VENOUS INSUFFICIENCY RESULTING FROMFEMORAL LIGATION. ADDITIONALLY, VV ECMO IS PREFERRED OVER VENO-ARTERIAL (VA) ECMO BECAUSE THE CAROTID ARTERY IS PRE- SERVED. THE PHASE I PROPOSAL IS FOR THE DESIGN AND ASSEMBLYOF A FLEXIBLE THIN-WALLED DOUBLE LUMEN CANNULA (DLC) SUITABLE FOR NEONATE APPLICATION. THE DLC OBTAINS ACCESS VIA THE JUGULAR VEIN TO THE RIGHT ATRIUM WHERE DRAINAGE AND PERFUSION OCCUR SIMULTANEOUSLY. EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED USING PROTOTYPE DLCS WITH RESULTS INDICATING THAT THE DLC CAN PROVIDE ADEQUATE SUPPORT AND HAS ADVANTAGES FOR USE OVERTHE TWO-CANNULA METHOD FOR VV OR VA ECMO. THE BENEFITS WILLBE DECREASED PATIENT MORBIDITY. PHASE II RESEARCH INCLUDES DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN TESTING OF THE ECMO DLC TO PROVE SAFETY AND EFFICACY, WITH THE FINAL GOAL OF MAKING THE CANNULA COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE.