Brochure for Dow Corning Antifoam A Spray
Dublin Core
Title
Brochure for Dow Corning Antifoam A Spray
Subject
Open Heart Surgery
Description
Antifoam A, a substance made by the Dow Corning Corporation, was used in the operation of the DeWall Bubble Oxygenator. The substance, when coated along the walls of the debubbling chamber of the oxygenator unit, helped to dissipate bubbles introduced into the chamber to oxygenate blood.
Description of the DeWall Bubble Oxygenator: Using a Sigmamotor pump, blood was transported via plastic tubing through the oxygenator unit which consisted of a vertical mixing chamber, a debubbling chamber, and a helix coil. Venous blood taken from a patient's major artery was pumped through the tubing and into the mixing chamber where oxygen was introduced into the blood by the addition of bubbles. The bubbles rose to the top of the chamber and spilled over into a debubbling chamber where any remaining bubbles were dispersed before the freshly oxygenated blood was returned to the patient.
Description of the DeWall Bubble Oxygenator: Using a Sigmamotor pump, blood was transported via plastic tubing through the oxygenator unit which consisted of a vertical mixing chamber, a debubbling chamber, and a helix coil. Venous blood taken from a patient's major artery was pumped through the tubing and into the mixing chamber where oxygen was introduced into the blood by the addition of bubbles. The bubbles rose to the top of the chamber and spilled over into a debubbling chamber where any remaining bubbles were dispersed before the freshly oxygenated blood was returned to the patient.
Creator
Dow Corning Corporation
Source
"Dow Corning, 1955-1965," Box 92, C. Walton Lillehei papers, uarc2000-7, University of Minnesota Archives
Publisher
University of Minnesota
Date
1955
Contributor
C. Walton Lillehei
Rights
Use of this image is governed by U.S. and international copyright laws. Image is property of the University of Minnesota. Please contact the University of Minnesota Archives for permission to publish this image. https://special.lib.umn.edu/uarch
Format
Document
Language
eng
Identifier
oh0159
Coverage
Open Heart Surgery
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
DOW CORNING CORPORATION
MIDLAND · MICHIGAN
RRMcG:jlg
February 16, 1956
Dr. C. Walton Lillehei
Department of Surgery
University of Minnesota
The Medical School
Minneapolis 14, Minnesota
Dear Dr. Lillehei:
Permit us to thank you for the reprint of your article
describing the work done involving the use of a disposable
artificial oxygenator. We are pleased to learn that our
Antifoam A performs a useful function, even though a small
one, in efficient operation. If it is not asking too much,
we would like to have twelve of these reprints for sending
abroad to others who are interested in this type of work,
but who might not otherwise have easy access to the article.
May I take the liberty of pointing out to you that we now
have a silicone rubber stock that can be formed into tubing
or sheets which is translucent to transparent. It has been
supplied (at no charge) to medical research groups for work
on blood transport and has even been used for permanent trans-
plants. It contains no plasticizers and is therefore not
subject to leaching; it is heat sterilizable; it is as effective
in delaying the clotting of blood as siliconized plastics or
glassware. I mention this for fear you may not yet be acquainted
with this relatively recent development which has proved useful
to other medical and surgical investigators. It could possibly
offer some advantages over the polyvinyl tubing you are using
in the oxygenator. Of course, if the polyvinyl is perfectly
satisfactory, there would be no object in making a change.
Very truly yours,
DOW CORNING CORPORATION
R. R. McGregor
Research Administrative Assistant
DOW CORNING
SILICONES
ATLANTA · CHICAGO · CLEVELAND · DALLAS · DETROIT · LOS ANGELES · NEW YORK · WASHINGTON, D. C.
MIDLAND · MICHIGAN
RRMcG:jlg
February 16, 1956
Dr. C. Walton Lillehei
Department of Surgery
University of Minnesota
The Medical School
Minneapolis 14, Minnesota
Dear Dr. Lillehei:
Permit us to thank you for the reprint of your article
describing the work done involving the use of a disposable
artificial oxygenator. We are pleased to learn that our
Antifoam A performs a useful function, even though a small
one, in efficient operation. If it is not asking too much,
we would like to have twelve of these reprints for sending
abroad to others who are interested in this type of work,
but who might not otherwise have easy access to the article.
May I take the liberty of pointing out to you that we now
have a silicone rubber stock that can be formed into tubing
or sheets which is translucent to transparent. It has been
supplied (at no charge) to medical research groups for work
on blood transport and has even been used for permanent trans-
plants. It contains no plasticizers and is therefore not
subject to leaching; it is heat sterilizable; it is as effective
in delaying the clotting of blood as siliconized plastics or
glassware. I mention this for fear you may not yet be acquainted
with this relatively recent development which has proved useful
to other medical and surgical investigators. It could possibly
offer some advantages over the polyvinyl tubing you are using
in the oxygenator. Of course, if the polyvinyl is perfectly
satisfactory, there would be no object in making a change.
Very truly yours,
DOW CORNING CORPORATION
R. R. McGregor
Research Administrative Assistant
DOW CORNING
SILICONES
ATLANTA · CHICAGO · CLEVELAND · DALLAS · DETROIT · LOS ANGELES · NEW YORK · WASHINGTON, D. C.
Original Format
Paper
Citation
Dow Corning Corporation, “Brochure for Dow Corning Antifoam A Spray,” Gallery, accessed November 8, 2026, https://gallerytemp.reclaim.hosting/items/show/3265.