CNET - Scientists at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland have designed an artificial lung that uses air instead of pure oxygen as a ventilating gas--an advance that could turn accompanying oxygen cylinders into relics of the past.
What's more, the device for use in humans could come in at just 6x6x4 inches, which is roughly the volume of the real human lung, meaning it could conceivably pave the way for implantable artificial lungs.
"Current technology involves complex systems that are limited to intensive care units, so [the] device has the potential to provide clinically relevant oxygenation levels using ambient air, opening the door to portable systems," says Jeffrey Borenstein, an expert in microsystems technology and biomedical devices at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass., in a news release. More
The device features microfluidic channels similar in size to blood vessels in real lungs and a membrane for oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange.
(Credit: Joseph Potkay)"Current technology involves complex systems that are limited to intensive care units, so [the] device has the potential to provide clinically relevant oxygenation levels using ambient air, opening the door to portable systems," says Jeffrey Borenstein, an expert in microsystems technology and biomedical devices at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass., in a news release. More
