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EVERY YEAR, THOUSANDS of people languish on the lung-transplant waiting list, and most die if a donor organ doesn’t arrive in time. Robert Bartlett, a surgeon at the University of Michigan, has devised the first artificial-lung prototype that will allow those patients to remain mobile and live at home while they wait for the real thing. Replacement lungs have traditionally been ill-suited to long-term use because they use complex artificial-blood pumps that can damage blood cells and cause clotting. In contrast, the BioLung, an external soda-can-size device that attaches to major blood vessels around the heart and lungs, uses the heart’s natural pumping action to power a filtration system that replaces waste carbon dioxide with oxygen from the surrounding air. If all goes well, the first human clinical trials will begin next year. mc3corp.com
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