Artificial lung

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have created a small artificial lung (photo) that can be operated with normal air.

This artificial lung is a template with miniaturized features, then superimposed on several layers of liquid silicone rubber similar to blood vessels with a diameter less than 1/4 of human hair. After that, they will solidify into capillaries and alveoli.

When blood and air are introduced into separate gates, oxygen molecules are diffused through the gas exchange membrane and then merged into the blood and oxygenated blood is released into the bloodstream. The carbon dioxide in the blood is diffused through the gas exchange membrane and discharged through the air outlet. In addition, it can be operated by the heart and does not require mechanical pumps.

In the past, conventional artificial lungs needed to have very pure oxygen tanks to maintain their activity, thus limiting their mobility. In contrast, this new type of artificial lung is designed to be as small as the real lung, improving efficiency by 3-5 times. Therefore, this is an important step towards an easy or temporary replacement of the lung for the actual lung.