X-Message-Number: 16134
From: "Jan Coetzee" <>
Subject: Researcher Develops Implantable Artificial Lung 
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 17:42:26 -0400

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Researcher Develops Implantable Artificial Lung 

By Eric Beech 


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A University of Pittsburgh researcher said on Thursday he
had developed an artificial lung that could be implanted temporarily in people 
with emphysema or other severe respiratory problems to take some of the 
breathing load off their lungs. 


Dr. Brack Hattler told Reuters his Hattler Respiratory Catheter, expected to 
begin clinical trials in Europe next year, can provide about half the oxygen an 
adult body needs and was designed to be implanted for as long as two weeks. 


He said up to 750,000 patients in the United States each year could use the 
device, including emphysema patients who need breathing assistance while 
recovering from colds and other complications. 


Hattler said the device also could help patients who suffered trauma to their 
lungs, such as smoke inhalation, and who need breathing help while their lungs 
heal. 


``Every year in the United States we have between 150,000 and 200,000 people who
are dying and there's been a need to take over the function of the lungs and 
provide support while the lungs heal,'' said Hattler, a professor of surgery at 
the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 


He said he hopes to have the device approved for use in the United States by the
end of 2003. 


Hattler said the majority of his funding came from the Defense Department and 
was prompted by concerns in the US military about chemical weapons in the wake 
of the Gulf War. 


Hattler said the catheter could be used by field hospitals to treat soldiers 
injured by chemical weapons. 


He said his device was more effective than a respirator and produced fewer 
medical complications. It is also less expensive than a standard oxygenator, he 
said, which requires blood to be pumped outside the body. 


The device, about 18 inches long, is inserted through a vein in the leg and is 
threaded up into the vena cava, the major vein returning blood to the heart. 


It consists of hollow fiber membranes that introduce oxygen into the blood and 
remove carbon dioxide. The oxygen source sits outside the body and is attached 
to the catheter by tubes. 


The Hattler device would be the second artificial lung tested on humans. About 
10 years ago, clinical testing of another device was stopped because it failed 
to work effectively. 


Hattler said the major design update since the first artificial lung is a small 
balloon, about the diameter of a nickel, that inflates and deflates rapidly to 
help move the blood through the plastic membranes. 


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