Medical membrane materials

When it comes to cardiac surgery and long-term respiratory assistance therapies, efficient and safe oxygenation of the patient's blood is critical. Your choice of capillary membranes in the devices you produce for blood oxygenation must be made with utmost care.  

Gas permeable membranes play a vital role in surgeries where 3M™ MEMBRANA OXYPLUS capillary membrane systems are used to enable effective blood oxygenation in patients with respiratory conditions, critical cardiac failure, and during medical procedures such as cardiac surgeries. At Solventum, we provide specially designed capillary membranes for blood oxygenation applications and specific capillaries for the effective management of the patient's blood temperature in integrated heat exchangers.  

Blood oxygenation goes hand-in-hand with careful management of the patient’s blood temperature. With a Solventum capillary in the center of the heat exchanger, various oxygenator designs for optimized flow and easy adjustment to pressure changes becomes possible. Utilizing heat exchange capillaries made from polymeric  material like the membrane for blood oxygenation simplifies the design of the device with a high-quality solution that can be trusted for blood oxygenation in devices for cardiac and long-term respiratory therapies.  

To learn more about how our membranes and capillaries can be used in your application, or to discuss our custom options, please reach out to our experts. 

3M™ Membrana™ OXYPLUS™ Capillary Membranes 

The Membrana™ OXYPLUS™ capillary membranes are suitable for longer term use and approved in applications for up to two weeks. These capillary membranes have a dense outer skin which prevents the liquids, such as blood plasma or water, from passing into the pores even with prolonged use. 

3M™ Membrana™ OXYPHAN™ Capillary Membranes

The Membrana™ OXYPHAN™ capillary membrane, characterized by its sponge-like pore structure with uniform pore size and distribution, exhibits resistance to the infiltration of liquids and plasma breakthrough. These capillary membranes are primarily used for blood oxygenators for cardiac surgery applications, easy handling and good resistance against plasma breakthrough.

3M™ Membrana™ X30 Capillary Membranes

The small diameter of Membrana™ X30 capillary membrane enables for compact design of the device, and the mechanical strength makes the X30 Series Capillary Membrane suitable for small devices, particularly those built for the medical treatment of children.

3M™ Membrana™ HEXPET™ Capillaries

Membrana™ HEXPET™ capillaries, designed to be seamlessly integrated into medical devices, is the heart of the heat exchanger in extracorporeal support systems. Polymeric heat exchangers are easier to process in the manufacture of oxygenators, as they can be handled in the same way as the gas exchange membranes. 

Navigating the rigorous demands of crafting medical devices for hemapheresis applications can be complex. We've dedicated our efforts to creating specialized membranes that meet these challenging demands.  

Therapeutic apheresis is a gentle and highly effective procedure designed to remove harmful substances, such as excess lipoproteins or certain immunoglobulins, from the blood. The first step in this process involves the separation of plasma from the patient's blood. This plasma, including the harmful substances, can then be discarded and replaced by healthy donor plasma, or a subsequent process is employed to eliminate the harmful substances from the blood plasma.   

This critical process relies on a bundle of semipermeable capillary membranes that enable the separation of blood components. Each distinct capillary membrane is tailored to target specific components, such as the separation of plasma and cellular components or the different target molecules to remove. 3M's capillary membranes for therapeutic apheresis are carefully crafted using synthetic polymers, and their selection is of utmost importance to ensure the efficient removal of harmful components from the blood or plasma while preserving essential blood components.  

To better understand Solventum’s solutions, reach out to our experts to discuss further. 

3M™ Membrana™ DIAPES™ Capillary Membranes 

3M™ Membrana™ DIAPES™ capillary membranes are engineered for highly effective, patient-adapted dialysis treatment. High flux and low flux variants of Membrana™ DIAPES™ capillary membranes are designed for different treatment modalities and situations. Advanced convective clearances are achieved by elevated ultrafiltration rates in each flux segment. The 3M™ Membrana™ DIAPES™ LF Series Capillary Membrane act as an additional barrier to endotoxins frequently observed in dialysate solutions. 

With its improved dialysis performance in each segment, this membrane helps to ensure that end-stage renal disease patients enjoy improved quality of life. With its defined range of different sieving coefficients and ultrafiltration rates, the Membrana™ DIAPES™ capillary membranes allow individual treatment for each patient, especially when high clearance of middle molecules is required. 

3M™ Membrana™ PUREMA™ Capillary Membranes

The Membrana™ PUREMA™ capillary membranes support a spectrum of blood purification methods, hemodialysis and hemofiltration in both low and high flux applications. The separation profile of Membrana™ PUREMA™ capillary membranes for dialysis with a sharpened cut-off for the targeted elimination of middle molecules is beneficial in the full range for all extracorporeal renal replacement therapies, i.e., in hemodialysis, hemodiafiltration and hemofiltration.  

In high flux applications, such as hemodiafiltration, 3M™ Membrana™ PUREMA™ H Series Capillary Membrane provides stable clearance values throughout the entire treatment and eliminates middle molecular weight toxins without loss of essential proteins. 

In low flux applications 3M™ Membrana™ PUREMA™ LX Series Capillary Membranes prevent water borne contaminants, particularly endotoxins, to pass from the dialysis fluid back into the blood. 

Membrana™ PUREMA™ capillary membranes combine high clearance of small molecular weight uremic toxins with stable clearance performance. 

3M™ Membrana™ SYNPHAN™ Capillary Membranes

Membrana™ SYNPHAN™ capillary membranes find application across various treatment modes, including hemodialysis, hemodiafiltration, hemofiltration, and hemoconcentration. These capillary membranes exhibit consistent performance from treatment to treatment. The membrane is characterized by a distinctive separation profile with a sharpened cut-off for the targeted elimination of small and middle molecules. It combines clearance of small molecular weight uremic toxins with stable clearance performance.  

The asymmetric membrane structure consists of different functional layers. The separating layer defines the sieving coefficient profile while the support layer ensures mechanical strength. The defined layers also contribute to the hydraulic properties of these capillary membranes. 

In low flux applications, 3M™ Membrana™ SYNPHAN™ LF Series Capillary Membranes prevent waterborne constituents from entering into the patient’s blood. 

Navigating the rigorous demands of crafting medical devices for hemapheresis applications can be complex. We've dedicated our efforts to creating specialized membranes that meet these challenging demands.  

Therapeutic apheresis is a gentle and highly effective procedure designed to remove harmful substances, such as excess lipoproteins or certain immunoglobulins, from the blood. The first step in this process involves the separation of plasma from the patient's blood. This plasma, including the harmful substances, can then be discarded and replaced by healthy donor plasma, or a subsequent process is employed to eliminate the harmful substances from the blood plasma.   

This critical process relies on a bundle of semipermeable capillary membranes that enable the separation of blood components. Each distinct capillary membrane is tailored to target specific components, such as the separation of plasma and cellular components or the different target molecules to remove. 3M's capillary membranes for therapeutic apheresis are meticulously crafted using synthetic polymers, and their selection is of utmost importance to ensure the efficient removal of harmful components from the blood or plasma while preserving essential blood components.  

To better understand Solventum’s solutions, reach out to our experts to discuss further. 

3M™ Membrana™ SYNCLEAR™ Capillary Membranes

During hemofiltration, blood is drawn from the patient and passed through a hemofilter device. This device incorporates a semipermeable membrane that effectively separates small molecules like waste constituents and excess fluid while allowing larger blood cells and larger proteins to remain in circulation.

Membrana™ SYNCLEAR™ capillary membranes are specifically designed to reduce inflammation markers and protein-bound toxins together with a certain percentage of the patient’s albumin from the blood, ensuring an efficient process. The removed albumin has to be either replaced or returned to the patient. Integrating these membranes into hemofilter devices is seamless, thanks to their compatibility with standard assembly processes. Capillary membrane bundles made with Membrana™ SYNCLEAR™ capillary membranes come in two versions with different pore sizes to suit your separation task. 

3M™ Membrana™ MicroPES™ TF10 Series Capillary Membranes

At the core of the first step in most hemapheresis procedures lies a bundle of semipermeable capillary membranes to provide blood component separation into blood plasma and blood cells. Membrana™ MicroPES™ TF10 series capillary membranes demonstrate proven performance in challenging apheresis applications. The use of membranes in plasma separation processes provides gentle separation of cell free plasma from all cellular components. The membrane is hydrophilic by design and thus easy to prime and set up in the clinical application.  

3M™ Membrana™ PLASMAPHAN™ Capillary Membranes

Similarly, made from polypropylene, Membrana™ PLASMAPHAN™ capillary membranes perform the same task of separating blood cells from blood plasma. Their symmetrical pore structure throughout the cross section guarantees safe performance since more than 30 years. The manufacture in a thermally induced phase separation process from polypropylene leads to a smooth surface and results in lower complement activation. At the same time, the material is known for its ease of processing in potting.  

3M™ Membrana™ FractioPES™ Capillary Membranes

Plasma fractionation benefits from the performance of the Membrana™ FractioPES™ capillary membrane. This membrane is applied in a second filtration step after plasma separation and removes targeted substances from the separated cell free plasma. Membrana™ FractioPES™ capillary membrane ensures treatment of the patient's plasma due to its defined sieving coefficient and excellent biocompatibility.  The different porosity of the two versions of these capillary membranes allows for the targeted removal of selected molecules like immunoglobulin and low-density lipoprotein, while allowing others to be retained.