【健坛同胞的新技术介绍】末期肺气肿患者的福音---人工肺？

来源：Patients Up and About With Portable, Artificial Lung




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A few weeks ago, Ward Forsyth could hardly breathe.

Ward Forsyth relies on his portable lung to breathe.With end stage emphysema, the 49-year-old former smoker is waiting for a lung transplant that, in years past, would have meant a life restricted to a hospital bed.

But now there is groundbreaking new technology that allows patients on the waiting list for lung transplants to get out of bed and exercise thanks to a portable artificial lung.

"If it wouldn't be for this machine, I wouldn't be able to get out of bed. Period," Forsyth said. "I wouldn't be able to walk. I'd fall to the ground."

Forsyth is one of the first patients to take advantage of the new artificial lung, which is a huge departure from the older, cumbersome machines that kept them in the bed.

"I think it's a blessing," Forsyth said.

The new device mimics the function of the human lung and uses a specially designed catheter to replace the need to have tubes in the patient while lying down.

Patients can eat and exercise -- an important improvement because it keeps patients' muscles from atrophying.

"If you ain't getting enough oxygen, you can't run, you can't walk and that's what the machine is doing, putting that back in my body and helping me," Forsyth said.

Doctor: New Tech Could Help Transplant Survival

But convenience is not the only advantage, according to Dr. Bartley Griffith, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center. It can help the transplant patients' chances of survival while they wait.

"I know in my heart that a stable group of patients like ours treated in this way will come through transplantation with a much higher success rate," Griffith said.

For Forsyth, it's all about keeping his body ready for the transplant he awaits.

"All I need is a bit more exercise and can keep on going, but I won't have to start at the beginning," he said.

Looking Forward for Medical Technology

The next step? Griffith says it is to develop a smaller device to function essentially as a portable life-support machine.

It's a step that is closer than you might think.



With end stage emphysema, the 49-year-old former smoker is waiting for a lung transplant which, in years past, would have meant a life restricted to a hospital bed. But now there is groundbreaking new technology that allows patients on the waiting list for lung transplants get out of bed and even exercise thanks to a portable artificial lung.
(ABC News)



科学允许质疑。事实上，不科学的东西应该质疑。质疑的精神使科学“优胜劣汰”发展到今天如此深入、细微的地步---外行很难搞懂的地步了。提倡质疑的精神，但要有质疑的资本。一味地以无知者无畏的精神怀疑主流科学界是不智的。
上面那个“人工肺”的仪器就是我们健康坛一位网友的设计/杰作：20年的专利，正在改进完善中。恕闽姑不能给出ID。尽管他说过：“请不要链接。外行很难理解这个东东， 不想被他们嘲笑。再说，我也不想出名。”，但闽姑还是把它贴出来（一个鼓舞人心的新技术！）。如果他读了，请原谅闽姑吧！我也不能给出他的联络方法，除非他自己觉得时机成熟可以答复有兴趣和有需要的人。也许某一天大家在媒体里就看到对这位来自中国的发明者的采访了。

所有跟帖： 

• 俺经常操作人工心肺机，能否介绍得详细点。谢谢。 -家乐福.- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/26/2010 postreply 07:46:09