DeWall helix-reservoir bubble oxygenator

• Originally believed that oxygenating blood by bubble oxygenation was not safe due to emboli problems

• DeWall overcame these challenges by using a reservoir, bubble traps and defoaming agents to produce a bubble free arterial blood

• The Dewall-Lillehei bubble oxygenator, developed in 1955, was efficient, cheap, easy to assemble, and reusable

• Precipitated the explosive development of cardiac surgery; intracardiac correction could now be done routinely

Design:

• Oxygen was bubbled through blood which then flowed through a chamber coated with an anti foaming compound. It then passed through a helical bubble trap and was filtered before being pumped to the patient

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