A medical instrument and method is provided for defoaming or preventing formation of foam in blood during extracorporeal blood circulation. The method comprises durably coating hydrophobic blood-contact surfaces with a nontoxic, biocompatible surface-active defoaming agent.
An apparatus for defoaming blood is described, having a surface which comes into contact with blood, said surface being coated with a defoamer which has a hydrophobic component with lipophobic microdomains.
A completely integrated cardiopulmonary bypass system includes a common casing provided with a reservoir, a venous air trap, oxygenator, heat-exchanger and a pump. This totally integrated system provides for volume sequestration and for bypassing the reservoir without use of a shunt. The system also provides for open or closed circuit operation, thereby permitting the volume sequestration. The closed circuit operation has a venous air trap for air removal, thus retaining the safety features of both open reservoir and closed-venous air trap systems.
