A novel blood filter to prevent potential side effects during heart and lung surgery

Development of a haemolysis triple filter for use in extracorporeal circuits.

During heart surgery, it is common for blood to be re-routed around the heart temporarily so delicate surgery can be carried out on the heart itself. The blood is re-routed through cardio-pulmonary bypass, also known as a heart-lung machine. One of the side effects of this procedure can be the rupture of blood cells. This is called haemolysis, and it releases the protein haemoglobin and its constituents – haem and iron – into the body. All three substances contribute to inflammation and cause stress in our cells, which can increase the risk of infection, kidney injury, high blood pressure in the lungs and unwanted bleeding following the operation. However, there is currently no effective way to remove these harmful products of haemolysis from the body during cardiopulmonary bypass. Dr Gregory Quinlan and his team at Imperial College London have developed a filter that would remove haemoglobin, haem and iron from the circulation. It works by containing three different chemicals that bind the harmful substances. This project will further improve this existing model by studying how the substances bind to it, how effective the absorption is and how well it filters human blood samples. If successful, this will be the first effective filter device that can prevent complications caused by haemolysis, which could ultimately help to improve the outcomes of heart and lung surgery.