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Showing posts from November 30, 2014

Artificial lung till transplant

Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2014/11/28/Now-Artificial-Lung-Till-Patient-gets-Transplant/article2544472.ece Lung-i dance. Bahrain-born Fatima Ahmed may not be able to manage that with her own two failed lungs, but she can certainly give it a shot with the artificial one that doctors have attached - between her legs. A couple of years ago, doctors gave patients with heart failure external pumps (LVAD/HVAD) to keep them going till a suitable heart for transplant became available. Now, they’ve managed the same for when your lungs give out. Surgeons at Global Hospitals used a device called the Novalung to ‘breathe’ for a 64-year-old Bahraini woman, who underwent a lung transplant two years ago. An artificial, membrane-filled device that requires no external power source, the Novalung takes blood from the femoral artery, removes Carbon dioxide, adds oxygen and returns the blood to the femoral vein. “It’s tough enough to find a suitable lung to transplan...