A New Artificial Lung Can Breathe Regular Air Rather Than Purified Oxygen

By Clay Dillow Posted 07.26.2011 at 5:06 pm 10 Comments

The Iron Lung of Yesteryear Cleveland researchers have devised a way to pack all the function of existing artificial lung technology into a more efficient package that is the size of an actual human lung. CDC

Researchers in Cleveland have built an artificial lung that is so efficient it can breathe regular air rather than the pure oxygen required by current artificial lungs. The technology makes possible the idea of a man-made lung that is far more portable--and possibly implantable--for the nearly 200 million people suffering from some degree of lung disease.

Current artificial lungs are inefficient and cumbersome, requiring large tanks of oxygen--their oxygen exchange efficiency is so poor that they can only breathe the pure stuff--that render them more or less stationary. The reliance on pure oxygen also limits their lifespans, as they need a fresh supply every few days.

The new lung, built by Case Western Reserve University researchers, is modeled on the natural human lung and contains a bunch of breathable silicone rubber analogs of blood vessels that branch out like real blood vessels down to the point that they reach a diameter smaller than one quarter that of a human hair. This bio-mimicking miniaturization offers a much better surface-area-to-volume ratio, lending the device its higher oxygen exchange efficiency.

As such, the researchers believe they can pack enough efficiency to match that of the human lung in a package that is also roughly the size of a real lung--meaning that at some point in the future their lung could be implanted in patients. In such a scenario, the device could be driven by the heart, requiring no independent power source to power the lung.

Tests using pig blood have shown that the artificial lung is three to five times more efficient than the current state of the art, and though the initial goal was to improve efficiency and portability of artificial lungs--that is, to get rid of those external oxygen tanks--the team thinks they could have an implantable model in clinical trials within a decade. That is, of course, if we’re not already growing made-to-order replacement lungs in the lab by then.

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10 Comments

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Kroenen

07/26/11 at 5:23 pm

so there is no name of that manufacturs. you wanna give a try?

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nebulation

07/26/11 at 8:19 pm

So, if this were able to be impanted into people as a replacement for lungs, would the effects of lung diseases be halted completely or what? With something like this would people who smoke die as soon as they normally would? I'm not really sure of what all is affected in the body from smoking.

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grettlestuart

07/27/11 at 5:11 am

Is this for those who needs lung cancer transplant or for the chain smokers? Wait. A new artificial lung that can breathe regular air.. What exactly are the rest of us breathing all this time?

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Onihikage

07/27/11 at 7:57 am

@Nebulation: Well, people wouldn't die from outright black lung disease, but even this would still have some sort of plaque buildup on it. And there's no telling if it will be resistant to infection - a lot of things in our bronchi are there to keep contaminants out and restrict what makes it to the bloodstream.

That said, I wonder if they could make a lung from this, slightly longer than normal, that has air passageways leading out both ends? Stick a turbine on one end, and you're "breathing" constantly, oxygenating your blood much more efficiently. And if one end is blocked, you go back to the normal breathing cycle. Cue controversy over athletes using artificial lungs to enhance their abilities...

I assume that the system as it is *right now* is too large to be implanted? If so, would this artificial lung at least be wearable? Imagine - someone with no lungs could go backpacking! The wonders of technology and innovation...

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rettaH_daM

07/27/11 at 1:45 pm

This reminds me of the time my friend Larry had to have his appendix removed. He was like "I want an artificial appendix" and I'm like "but you don't need your appendix" and he was like "tell that to a text book."

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grettlestuart

07/28/11 at 3:43 am

Is this for those who needs lung cancer transplant or for the chain smokers? Wait. A new artificial lung that can breathe regular air.. What exactly are the rest of us breathing all this time?
(shaw-capitalmanagementfactoring.com)

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rettaH_daM

07/28/11 at 1:17 pm

One would think that Darth Vader would be very interested in this.

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coxlarei

08/01/11 at 3:22 am

I had found that the information is very helpful. That’s a awesome article you posted.I will come back to read some more.This will definitely a big help to those who have respiratory problems....Check this out http://investment.altlanticinternationalpartnership.net/

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wrightwac

08/03/11 at 3:49 am

A perfect info source. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic.
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balop

08/07/11 at 2:25 am

my brother is part of the team working on this. pretty cool stuff from what he tells me i am amazed hes been apart of this ground breaking work what a great team of scientists. science ROCKS

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