A medical marvel in the making, doctors at Northwestern University have successfully kept a man alive for 48 hours without lungs. The remarkable feat was made possible by an innovative custom machine designed by surgeon and researcher Ankit Bharat. The artificial lung system, called "flow-adaptive extracorporeal total artificial lung system" (TAL), breathed air into the patient's body while pumping out carbon dioxide.
The patient, a 33-year-old man who had contracted Influenza B complicated by a severe infection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, was on the brink of death. The infections had rendered his lungs useless, and he was too sick for a transplant. However, with the TAL system, the doctors were able to keep him alive long enough to receive a new set of lungs.
The machine was an answer to the physiological puzzle that made bilateral pneumonectomy, the removal of both lungs, extremely risky before now. Normally, removing both lungs would lead to a massive pressure spike in the heart, causing it to fail within minutes.
To mitigate this risk, Bharat's team engineered the TAL system with four new components: a dual-lumen cannula that drained deoxygenated blood from the right side of the heart, a flow-adaptive shunt that recirculated excess blood back into the atrium, and two devices called dual left atrial return that returned oxygenated blood directly into the left atrium.
The patient was kept alive for 48 hours on this machine, during which time his septic shock began to resolve, and his medications were discontinued. When donor lungs became available, the team successfully performed a transplant, and after two years, the patient has returned to a normal, independent life with excellent lung function.
This breakthrough offers hope that patients who would otherwise be considered beyond medical help can be saved by innovative technologies. However, it also highlights the challenges of diagnosing irreversible damage in lung injuries and the need for more expertise and resources to make these advanced treatments accessible to all.
The patient, a 33-year-old man who had contracted Influenza B complicated by a severe infection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, was on the brink of death. The infections had rendered his lungs useless, and he was too sick for a transplant. However, with the TAL system, the doctors were able to keep him alive long enough to receive a new set of lungs.
The machine was an answer to the physiological puzzle that made bilateral pneumonectomy, the removal of both lungs, extremely risky before now. Normally, removing both lungs would lead to a massive pressure spike in the heart, causing it to fail within minutes.
To mitigate this risk, Bharat's team engineered the TAL system with four new components: a dual-lumen cannula that drained deoxygenated blood from the right side of the heart, a flow-adaptive shunt that recirculated excess blood back into the atrium, and two devices called dual left atrial return that returned oxygenated blood directly into the left atrium.
The patient was kept alive for 48 hours on this machine, during which time his septic shock began to resolve, and his medications were discontinued. When donor lungs became available, the team successfully performed a transplant, and after two years, the patient has returned to a normal, independent life with excellent lung function.
This breakthrough offers hope that patients who would otherwise be considered beyond medical help can be saved by innovative technologies. However, it also highlights the challenges of diagnosing irreversible damage in lung injuries and the need for more expertise and resources to make these advanced treatments accessible to all.
, seems like a major medical leap but how reliable is this machine really? 48 hours without lungs is still pretty extreme, what if something goes wrong during those 48 hrs? also, why did the patient have to wait that long for donor lungs? shouldn't there be more of a pipeline for these new lungs anyway? and what's with all the new components? seems like they just threw a bunch of stuff at it until it worked 
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! I mean, who would've thought we'd be living in a world where doctors can keep people alive without lungs? It's like something straight out of sci-fi, but it's real! The fact that Ankit Bharat and his team were able to engineer an artificial lung system that could breathe air into the patient's body while pumping out carbon dioxide is just genius 
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. But the fact that it was able to keep the patient alive for 48 hours without any major complications is just incredible 
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and it saved his life 
basically the machine is like a super advanced air tank for your body 
now I'm curious to know more about how they made it work 
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This is literally a game changer! I mean, we're talkin' about someone who's basically given up on life, and then a machine comes along that's like a lifesaver... no pun intended 
! 48 hours without lungs? That's insane! And the fact that it was made possible by a team of doctors and researchers who are like, totally pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible is just amazing. 
. I mean, can you imagine being bedridden with Influenza B and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with no lungs to breathe in or out? It's like the odds were stacked against him 
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. It's not just about saving lives; it's about giving people hope when all seems lost 
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I'm seriously mind blown by this medical marvel! 48 hours without lungs is just insane. The fact that they were able to keep him alive long enough to get a new set of lungs is pure genius. Ankit Bharat's team has truly pushed the boundaries of what we thought was possible in medicine.
It's mind-blowing to think that someone could be kept alive for 48 hours without lungs, it just goes to show how far medicine has come! The innovation of the custom TAL system is a huge step forward in saving lives. But at the same time, we can't ignore the fact that there are still many patients who fall through the cracks and don't get the treatment they need. We need to keep pushing for more research, better resources, and more expertise so that everyone has access to these life-saving technologies! 
And now they're making this thing available to everyone... sounds like a way to control who gets access to life-saving tech, you feel me? 
I mean, think about it, no lungs = total organ failure = probably death 
But these docs are like superheroes with their fancy machine 
This tech is gonna save so many lives, but also highlights how much work needs to be done in terms of diagnosing lung injuries and getting these treatments available to more people 
. docs were like "he's gonna kick the bucket" but then some genius surgeon Ankit Bharat created an artificial lung system that saved his life