Applications of Defoaming

There are two main medical applications of defoaming. The first concerns the treatment of symptoms associated with excessive gas in the gastrointestinal tract. The second concerns the treatment of blood during cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. 

Difficulty of decontamination of either type of oxygenator after use means that they have to be affordably disposable. Even 15 years ago, it was estimated that more than 1 million disposable oxygenators were used globally where about 85-90% were 

The designs of various defoamers for both types of oxygenators are reviewed here together with the evidence concerning emboli formation by polydimethylsilox-ane (PDMS)-based antifoam. Although PDMS-hydrophobed silica is the preferred antifoam, other materials and even defoamers that do not use antifoams have been suggested, the practicality of which we also consider. 

Here we briefly review the issues involved in the use of simethicone in the treatment of gastrointestinal gas following the earlier reviews of Burton [6] and Berger [7]. 

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