Extracorporeal lung assist on premature sheep and goat delivered by cesarean-section used as an experimental model of infant respiratory failure
Tsuno, K.; Terasaki, H.; Hashiguchi, A.; Nakamura, M.; Tanoue, T.; Okamoto, T.; Sadanaga, M.; Higashi, K.; Yano, T.; Saito, Y.
Masui. Japanese Journal of Anesthesiology 36(6): 909-913
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-4892 PMID: 3656658 Document Number: 295479
A gravid sheep of a gestational age of 130 days (normal term: 146 .+-. 1 day) and a goat of 139 days (normal term: 150 .+-. 1 day) were subjected to Cesarean-section under general anesthesia to deliver their premature offsprings. The newborn was orotracheally intubated and a thin-walled 12 Fr. spiral catheter was placed through the jugular vein to the right atrium. After these preparations, the umbilical cord was cut and the newborn was placed in an incubator where extracorporeal lung assist (ECLA) with an artificial membrane lung was started by to-and-fro method. The newborn's own lungs were treated with a continous airway pressure of 10.apprx.15 cmH2O with an insufflation of a minimum amount of O2 and an intermittent lung conditioning of deep lung inflation every 30 min. When the total static lung compliance improved by 5 ml 2 cmH2O, mechanical ventilation of the lung was started and the support of gas exchange by membrane lung was gradually decreased until finally stopped after 49 h for the sheep and 18 h for the goat. For 6 h after disconnection from ECLA, the newborn was mechanically ventilated with air and their lung compliance and blood gases were maintained well. Previous studies showed that the premature sheep at this early stage died from pulmonary immaturity even under mechanical ventilatory support. ECLA seemed useful to sustain the life of these premature animals during the perinatal lung maturation which was much facilitated by apneic oxygenation and intermittent lung conditioning.