Dmf Medical Incorporated

3m Innovative Properties Company

Florentin Michael Wilfart

Klaus Michael Schmidt

David Cecil Roach

Wolfgang Ansorge

Michael Schmidt

Ina Voigt

Jan Haelssig

An anesthetic circuit is provided for treating a patient. The anesthetic circuit includes a membrane having a plurality of hollow fibers. Also provided is a fluid separation apparatus connectable to an anesthetic circuit. In a further embodiment, a method is provided for anesthetic treatment of a patient.

Anesthetic circuit having a hollow fiber membrane

Hydrophobic poly(4-methyl-1-pentene) hollow fiber membrane for retention of anesthetic agents with an inner and an outer surface and between inner and outer surface an essentially isotropic support layer with a sponge-like, open-pored, microporous structure free of macrovoids and adjacent to this support layer on the outer surface a dense separation layer with a thickness between 1.0 and 3.5 &#x3bc;m. The membrane has a porosity in the range of greater than 35% to less than 50% by volume and a permeance for COof 20-60 mol/(h&#xb7;m&#xb7;bar), a gas separation factor &#x3b1;(CO/N) of at least 5 and a selectivity CO/anesthetic agents of at least 150. The process for producing this membrane is based on a thermally induced phase separation process in which process a homogeneous solution of a poly(4-methyl-1-pentene) in a solvent system containing components A and B is formed, wherein component A is a strong solvent and component B a weak non-solvent for the polymer component. After formation of a hollow fiber the hollow fiber is cooled in a liquid cooling medium to form a hollow fiber membrane. The concentration of the polymer component in the solution may be in the range from 42.5 to 45.8 wt.-% and the hollow fiber leaving the die runs through a gap between die and cooling medium with a gap length in the range of 5-30 mm.

Hollow fiber membrane for use in an anesthetic circuit

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Halifax, Canada

Florentin Michael Wilfart