Membrane oxygenator

Working independently, Brukhonenko in the USSR and John Heysham Gibbon in the US demonstrated the feasibility of extracorporeal oxygenation.

The first membrane artificial lung was demonstrated in 1955 by the group led by Willem Kolff,[4] and in 1956 the first disposable-membrane oxygenator removed the need for time-consuming cleaning before re-use.

[citation needed] The first membrane artificial lungs were composed of large flat sheets of thin silicone rubber used to separate blood and gas.

For these and other innovations, including applying slight suction to form a tight seal and prevent hypobaric gas emboli, NIH was issued a patent in 1970 for the silicon rubber spiral coil membrane lung invented by Dr.

[1] Kolobow, with the assistance of Dr. Warren Zapol and NIH veterinarian Joseph Price, attempted the first in vivo experiments using the spiral membrane artificial lung on canines and lambs.