Patent ID: 7172727

Claim:
A system for oxygenating blood and delivering the oxygenated blood to a patient, the system comprising: a blood pump assembly coupled to a supply of blood; a blood oxygenation assembly coupled to the blood pump assembly, the blood oxygenation assembly receiving the blood from the blood pump assembly and oxygenating the blood, the blood oxygenation assembly comprising a membrane oxygenator comprising: a housing having a first end portion and a second end portion; a plurality of tubular membranes disposed in the housing, each of the plurality of tubular membranes having an internal surface and an external surface; a first inlet in the housing adapted to deliver oxygen gas stream into contact with only the external surface of each of the plurality of tubular membranes; a second inlet in the housing adapted to deliver the blood into contact with only the internal surface of each of the plurality of tubular membranes, wherein the oxygen gas diffuses through the tubular membranes and into the blood to form the oxygenated blood; and an outlet in the housing for expelling the oxygenated blood; a delivery assembly coupled to the outlet, the delivery assembly being adapted to deliver the oxygenated blood to a patient; and a control assembly couple to the blood pump.