In-vitro evaluation of neonatal ECMO cannulae with regard to flow characteristics.

One of the crucial points in a neonatal ECMO circuit is to obtain adequate venous drainage from the cannula in the right jugular vein, as the vessel diameter limits the size of cannula that can be used. For this reason the design of the cannula is of utmost importance. The aim of this paper was to compare different commercially available ECMO cannulae, and to try to find the cannula which had the best flow characteristics. Venous cannulae were evaluated with regard to maximum drainage capacity at different hydrostatic levels. For arterial use, pressure drop over the cannulae at different flow rates was measured. Of the cannulae studied, those from Biomedicus and Elecath had the best flow characteristics for both venous and arterial use.