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| Typical Number in Hospital: 20 | Cost Bands: 2,3 | References: 3 |
There is a tendency for blood to clot after passing through mechanical devices or when it comes into contact with synthetic materials. Thus an anticoagulant is required whenever blood is removed from the body.
The most commonly used anticoagulant is heparin, which is used in haemodialysis. The heparin pump, which may be a motorized syringe or a peristaltic roller pump, is employed to inject heparin into blood leaving the body before passing through the artificial kidney (dialyser), although it may sometimes be injected after the dialyser. The heparin is normally injected after the blood pump, since the pressure of the blood will always be positive at this point and the possibility of drawing in air through leaks is therefore eliminated.
Heparin pumps are also employed as part of heart-lung pumping procedures.
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