A hydraulic model for flow rate ratio of triple cannulation extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

Triple cannulation extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) provides advanced life support to patients with respiratory and hemodynamic failure by replacing the function of the heart and lungs. The application of triple cannulation ECMO suffers from the difficulty in predicting the flow rate ratios of the cannulas. We address this difficulty by proposing a hydraulic model, where the effects of the triple cannulation are modeled by head losses in a bifurcated tube. The proposed model correctly predicts the flow rate ratios and quantitatively captures the effects of geometrical parameters. This model can help to configure the cannula pair for clinical practices and interventional therapy.