Monitoring, Control System Development, and Experimental Validation for a Novel Extrapulmonary Respiratory Support Setup

This article presents a novel mechatronic setup intended for providing respiratory support to patients suffering from pulmonary failure. The setup relies upon the circulation of an oxygenated perfluorocarbon (PFC) through the abdominal cavity. Such circulation provides a potential pathway for the transport of oxygen to the bloodstream. However, the viability of this technology for $\text{CO}_2$ clearance has not been established. Moreover, there is a lack of experimental data enabling the modeling and identification of the underlying dynamics of this technology. To address these gaps, we develop a flexible experimental perfusion setup capable of monitoring and controlling key variables, such as perfusate flowrate, temperature, pressure, and oxygenation. One important scientific objective of this setup is to enable the measurement of the impact of abdominal PFC perfusion on $\text{CO}_2$ clearance. The article 1) summarizes the design of this setup; 2) highlights the degree to which its data acquisition system enables the collection and cross-correlation of both perfusion-related and physiological variables; and 3) discusses the development of flow, pressure, and temperature control algorithms for the setup. Experiments with large animals (swine) show that perfusion can potentially affect both $\text{O}_2$ and $\text{CO}_2$ dynamics, and that the setup succeeds in recording key data needed for modeling these dynamics.