Innovation Expands Artificial Lung Market

Article preview from Medtech Insight - April  01, 2011

Advances in extracorporeal lung support devices are expanding the market for artificial lungs and are helping to extend and save the lives of patients with acute and chronic pulmonary disease. At the Society of Thoracic Surgeons' annual meeting held in San Diego in January, researchers discussed new low-flow percutaneous catheters, advances in low-resistance membrane oxygenators, and improvements in pump designs that are enabling simpler, less invasive, and more portable solutions for treating patients with respiratory failure.

Innovation Expands Artificial Lung Market

Article preview from Medtech Insight - April  01, 2011

Advances in extracorporeal lung support devices are expanding the market for artificial lungs and are helping to extend and save the lives of patients with acute and chronic pulmonary disease. At the Society of Thoracic Surgeons' annual meeting held in San Diego in January, researchers discussed new low-flow percutaneous catheters, advances in low-resistance membrane oxygenators, and improvements in pump designs that are enabling simpler, less invasive, and more portable solutions for treating patients with respiratory failure.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people have medical conditions that lead to respiratory failure, a condition in which the respiratory system is unable to adequately exchange oxygen (hypoxemic) and/or eliminate carbon dioxide (CO2; hypercapnic). Causes of respiratory failure can be acute or chronic, and include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), trauma, central nervous system disorders, pulmonary embolism, and cystic fibrosis.  Because there are so many conditions that contribute to respiratory failure, it is a major cause of illness and death. According the American Thoracic Society, respiratory failure is the main cause of death in patients with pneumonia and COPD, making it the third leading cause of death in the US today from these conditions alone; and the situation is expected to worsen in the future. Recent epidemiologic studies suggest that as the population ages, the incidence of respiratory failure could increase by as much as 80% over the next twenty years.

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