Artificial Organs -Solving the Organ Transplant Crises
Artificial Lungs
How an Artificial Lung works
An artificial lung is completely made out of silicon known as polydimethylsiloxane. The lung works exactly like a normal lung. It adds oxygen then removes carbon dioxide from the blood. Blood and air are separated by a thin membrane. By the process of diffusion, the membrane allows both oxygen and carbon dioxide to freely pass through. Using difference in partial pressure, oxygen flows from the air, go through the membrane and enters the blood. For carbon dioxide the process is reversed and goes out of the blood. An artificial lungs are often used for utilizing for short-term rehabilitation or for a temporary use until a lung transplant is available (A11).
Did you Know?
Melissa Benoit, a patient with lung failure, was infected by cystic fibrosis and ravaged by bacterial infections for three years. Recently, the flu made her not able to breathe and her ribs fractured because she was breathing too hard. Because of the flu, her lungs were filled with pus, mucous and blood. The infection became strongly resistant to the antibiotics and she was dying. Since she was too sick, she had to be removed from the transplant list. To solve this problem, the doctors and her family decided to implant an artificial lung. Melissa was implanted with "a small, portable artificial lung known as a Novalung was connected to her heart, oxygenating her blood and removing carbon dioxide. Another device helped her heart circulate the oxygen-rich blood throughout her body." She was able to survive through the surgery and she was brought back from death (A12).
