Evaluation of the effectiveness of novel polypropylene membranes for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

Objective: to assess the gas transport performance of new polypropylene (PP) membranes manufactured by Cobetter Filtration^® (China) for use in extracorporeal circulation, and to compare their efficacy with the original 3M^® PP membrane (USA) using both an extracorporeal hydrodynamic test bench and in vivo animal experiments.

Materials and methods. Three experimental groups were established for bench and animal testing: a) Experimental – PP membrane 380/280 (n = 3); b) Experimental – PP membrane 300/200 (n = 3); c) Control – original 3M^® PP membrane (n = 3). A total of 18 oxygenators were evaluated, including 12 experimental oxygenators with the Cobetter Filtration^® membranes and 6 control oxygenators with 3M^® membranes. The primary outcome was the oxygenation index (OI), reflecting the gas transport function of the membrane oxygenators.

Results. During bench testing, the OI of the PP 300/200 membrane decreased from 509 ± 27 at baseline to 422 ± 31 after 240 minutes, showing no significant difference compared with the PP 380/280 membrane, which decreased from 487 ± 15 to 385 ± 20 (p > 0.05). In contrast, oxygenators with the original 3M^® membrane exhibited signifi cantly higher OI values, declining from 713 ± 46 to 612 ± 39 over the same period. In animal experiments, the initial OI in the 3M^® control group exceeded the threshold of 300, measuring 439 ± 13, whereas the experimental groups recorded lower values: 392 ± 27 (PP 380/280) and 411 ± 8 (PP 300/200), with p < 0.05. By 60 minutes, OI values were similar across all groups (p = 1). At the end of the 5-hour acute observation, OI values were 325 ± 29 (PP 380/280) and 355 ± 33 (PP 300/200), with no statistically signifi cant difference between the experimental groups (p > 0.05).

Conclusion. The experimental PP membranes demonstrated comparable effectiveness to the original 3M® products, suggesting their potential for enhancing the safety and biocompatibility of extracorporeal circulation procedures.

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