Toward Respiratory Support of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients Using Repurposed Kidney Hollow Fiber Membrane Dialysers to Oxygenate the Blood

  1. David M. Rubin
  2. Neil T. Stacey
  3. Tonderayi Matambo
  4. Claudia Do Vale
  5. Martin J. Sussman
  6. Tracy Snyman
  7. Mervyn Mer
  8. Diane Hildebrandt

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted resource constraints in respiratory support. The oxygen transfer characteristics of a specific hollow fiber membrane dialyser was investigated with a view to repurposing the device as a low-cost, readily available blood oxygenator. Oxygen transfer in a low-flux hollow fiber dialyser with a polysulfone membrane was studied by passing first water and then blood through the dialyser in countercurrent to high-purity oxygen. Oxygen transfer rates of about 15% of the nominal 250 ml (STP)/min of a typical adult oxygen consumption rate were achieved for blood flow rates of 500 ml/min. Using two such dialysis devices in parallel could provide up to 30% of the nominal oxygen consumption. Specific hollow fiber dialysis devices operating with suitable pumps in a veno-venous access configuration could provide a cost-effective and readily available supplementation of respiratory support in the face of severe resource constraints.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.04.06.20055236: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: Materials and methods for gas transfer into blood: This study with human blood was approved by the institutional review board of the South African National Blood Services Human Research Ethics Committee (certificate number: 2019/0521), and the institutional review board of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Human Research Ethics Committee (Medical) (certificate number: M200456).
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1155/2020/8862645
  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.04.06.20055236v3 on medRxiv
  4. Version published to 10.1101/2020.04.06.20055236v2 on medRxiv
  5. Version published to 10.1101/2020.04.06.20055236v1 on medRxiv