Asanguineous Total-Body Perfusion

USING A COMBINATION of hemodilution and hypothermia, DeWall and Lillehei 1 have shown that patients subjected to extracorporeal circulation exhibit no ill effects from the decreased oxygen capacity of perfused blood. Apparently the oxygen supplied is sufficient at this lower temperature to maintain adequate tissue oxygenation. Dilution of the blood reduces the requirement for large quantities of donor blood. Boerema et al 2 have shown that animals can survive without blood cells in a chamber supplied with air at three times normal atmospheric pressure. The success of either of these techniques depends on a supply of oxygen sufficient to maintain aerobic metabolism under the experimental conditions. Youmans et al, 3 however, have demonstrated that animals can survive complete cessation of cerebral blood flow for periods as long as 30 min. They stopped cerebral flow by raising cerebrospinal fluid pressure, while the rest of the body remained well oxygenated. Wolfe 4