The Aachen MiniHLM - A Miniaturized Heart Lung Machine for Neonates with Congenital Heart Defect

Predominantly standard adult Heart Lung Ma chines (HLMs) are used for pediatric cardiac surgery, only with individually downsized components. Downsizing is limited, e.g. by the required gas exchange surface, etc. In order to diminish complications we developed a new miniaturized heart lung machine (Aachen MiniHLM) for neonates, with significantly reduced priming volume and blood contact surface by integration of all major system components in one single de vice. In particular, the MiniHLM is a Heart-Lung-Machine with the rotary blood pump centrically integrated into the oxygenator and the cardiotomy reservoir with integrated heat exchanger is directly connected. Thus, tubing is only necessary between patient and MiniHLM.