Patient survives 2 days without lungs for first time

For the first time, an artificial lung system has been able to keep a patient alive for 48 hours while waiting for a transplant, reports Planet Today. Scientists call it a medical breakthrough for the US team, and this opens up unique opportunities to save lives in such difficult cases.

The 33-year-old man was hospitalized in 2023 and was connected to an artificial respiration apparatus. The cause of the problem was a complication—the development of pulmonary insufficiency, which led to necrotizing pneumonia and sepsis (blood infection)—after the flu. Antibiotics did not help, since the patient had developed complete resistance, explains thoracic surgeon Ankit Bharat, a researcher at Northwestern University in the US, the person behind of this new technology.

At such moments, doctors are faced with a dilemma: The complete removal of both lungs can stop the infection, but without the lungs, gas exchange and blood circulation are disrupted, which can lead to cardiac arrest and death.

Bharat has developed an artificial lung system that can completely replace this organ, supply oxygen to the blood, and assist blood circulation, the Northwestern University website writes.

A day after the removal of the lungs, the patient's condition improved, and 48 hours after starting the temporary artificial system, he was able to successfully undergo a full transplant of donor lungs.

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