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Last updated: 02/17/2009
A hemoperfusion system can be used with or without a hemodialysis machine. After the patient has been made comfortable, two catheters are placed in the arm, one in an artery and one in a nearby vein. After the catheters have been checked for accurate...
placement, the catheter in the artery is connected to tubing leading into the hemoperfusion system, and the catheter in the vein is connected to tubing leading from the system through a pressure monitor. The patient is given heparin at the beginning of the procedure and at 15–20-minute intervals throughout the hemoperfusion in order to prevent the blood from clotting. The patient's blood pressure is also taken regularly. A typical hemoperfusion treatment takes about three hours.
Hemoperfusion works by pumping the blood drawn through the arterial catheter into a column or cartridge containing the sorbent material. As the blood passes over the carbon or resin particles in the column, the toxic molecules or particles are drawn to the surfaces of the sorbent particles and trapped within the column. The blood flows out the other end of the column and is returned to the patient through the tubing attached to the venous catheter. Hemoperfusion is able to clear toxins from a larger volume of blood than hemodialysis or other filtration methods; it can process over 300 mL of blood per minute.
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Hemoperfusion (British English: haemoperfusion) is a medical process used to remove toxic substances from a patients blood. The technique involves passing large volumes of blood over an adsorbent substance. The adsorbent substance most commonly used in hemoperfusion are resins and activated carbon. Hemoperfusion is an extracorporeal form of treatment because the blood is pumped through a device outside the patient's body.
Its major uses include removing drugs or poisons from the blood in emergency situations, removing waste products from the blood in patients with renal failure, and as a supportive treatment for patients before and after liver transplantation.
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