Artificial Lungs Poised to Move Patients Out of the ICU
Researchers are developing next-generation artificial lungs designed for chronic respiratory support that could move patients out of the ICU and even into home care. Combining advanced devices, specialized biomaterials, and tailored drug therapies, the system aims to improve both survival and quality of life. With potential applications ranging from bridge-to-transplant care to life support for injured soldiers, this technology could transform respiratory medicine—though widespread clinical use depends on continued funding and infrastructure support.
Transcript
00:00:08 We're developing artificial lungs for patients with chronic respiratory support. And in addition to developing the devices that go into that system, we are also working on biomaterials to coat the artificial lung, and drugs that are designed specifically for that application. And what we'd like to do is not just allow them to live longer, but to live with a greater quality of life. Currently there are respiratory support devices that allow patients to be supported for days to weeks. But the challenge is, the longer they're supported in that way, the more fragile they become, and the larger the chance is that they won't survive. So what we'd like to do is develop a system that is simpler and safer so that it can be deployed outside of the intensive care unit, ideally at home. We're at a unique time because frankly, the technology that we've developed,
00:01:01 it's ready. The technology has developed to the point where you could start to use these artificial lungs as a bridge to transplant and really get people out of the intensive care and move them to a regular hospital floor, where they can have a more normal way of life. The challenge in ultimately bringing this to patients has less to do with technology and more on business and hospital infrastructure than anything else. Some of that is different drug therapies and getting people used to those drug therapies. Some of that is different sensing methodologies for assessing whether the patient is healthy and whether the device is functional. And some of those are really staffing related. When artificial lungs arrive in the clinic is really dependent on funding. So we rely on federal funding for research, and we rely on private investment to move the devices to the clinic. So we've spun
00:02:02 a company out of Carnegie Mellon based on our research here, and their plan is to bring the artificial lung to the clinic within three years. Our artificial lung has a secondary purpose. It can be used as a life support system for transport of injured soldiers. And for that reason, a lot of our funding has come from the U.S. Army, in the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. Unfortunately, the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program was cut 60% in the last budget. And so I think that one thing that we need to consider is, if we, as citizens, want advanced health care that supports us or soldiers, that we need to support federal funding of research.