Patent ID: 7572374
Filing Date: 2009-08-11
Classification: A61M,B01D

Abstract:
1. An in-vivo plasmapheresis or in-vivo ultrafiltration membrane comprising a plurality of elongated hollow microporous fibers each fiber having an outer wall, an inner wall and an interior lumen extending along the length thereof and defined by an inner wall surface, and wherein the fiber wall structure is a substantially continuous change in mass density from said outer wall to said inner wall and comprises a continuum of voids bounded by solid frames, said fiber wall having an asymmetrical pore size and asymmetrical mass density between said inner wall surface and the outer wall surface, said fiber wall having a higher mass density adjacent to the outer wall and a lower mass density adjacent to said inner wall, said fibers capable of separating blood plasma and toxins from whole blood within a blood vessel by passing the plasma and toxins through said fiber wall from the outer wall surface to the interior lumen, and a nitric oxide donor composition capable of generating or releasing nitric oxide or inducing nitric oxide production or release in-vivo within a blood vessel, distributed on or in said fiber wall.