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Figure 8. Average GME count pertaining to each group at all EDAC sensors.
Figure 9. Average GME volume pertaining to each group at all EDAC sensors.
imperfect trial standardization, and other confounders account for the other 39 % variability in GME production.
For each trial, GMEs were recorded over 3-minute intervals. Notably, nearly all GME detection happened within the first 45 s, and peak detection occurred around 15 s. Interestingly, GME counts peaked later, at around 30 s, for the instant initiation groups. The reason for this delay is not clear. However, one explanation is that it may be due to a delay in GME transmission as the reservoir is still filling during CPB initiation. This differs from the delayed initiation group, which allows more filling( and GME production) before initiation.
Over this interval, an anomaly was observed in GME size for the instant �40 mmHg group. There was a sudden increase in GME size at 1:30 s into the trials for that group. Although this data is an average of 10 trials, no single trial contained a dramatic outlier. An explanation for this is not yet known.
Perhaps the increase can be attributed to the air-fluid interaction specific to that group, causing larger GME to be sequestered for longer. Some degree of elevation occurred in multiple trials, which could indicate that there is secondary air leaving the oxygenator in a delayed manner, which would suggest the above theory to be more plausible.
Further, data gathered from the other two sensor locations, post-reservoir, and post-hypobaric oxygenator, provided insight as to the air handling capabilities of the oxygenator and integrated arterial filter. A dramatic reduction in GME size and count between the post-reservoir and post-oxygenator sensors was observed. This affirms the findings by Hudacko and colleagues, who observed significantly less GME postarterial filter, indicating a high capacity of the filters’ air handling capabilities.
The post-hypobaric oxygenator sensor was used to confirm that no significant air remained in the circuit before beginning