Artificial Lung: A New Inspiration

I. Introduction From assisting an injured or recently transplanted lung to completely replacing the native organ, many obstacles had to be overcome to make the artificial lung a reality. With patients on the lung transplant list far exceeding available donors, the importance of developing a suitable bridge or replacement technology grows more every day. The number of individuals requiring a lung transplant is on the rise. From 1997 to 2007, there has been an 11% increase in the number of candidates on the lung transplant list (1). Additionally, only 18% of the 13, 154 lungs from organ donors were transplanted in 2006; 81% were not recovered (1). The reason for this discrepancy was cited as “poor organ function, " leading to an even greater disparity between needed and available lungs (1). As such, research has focused not merely on an artificial lung as a replacement organ but rather an artificial lung as a bridge to transplantation (2, 3) or recovery, as a support device following transplant, or simply as an adjunct to mechanical ventilation (2, 4).