Man-made lungs ?

Man-made lungs  

Man-made lungs are already a reality. A device called the NovaLung is being tested worldwide to help patients struck down by life-threatening asthma attacks and pneumonia, as well as those awaiting a lung transplant.

 The size of a CD case, it is plumbed into the body’s circulation through blood vessels in the legs. It has a high-tech membrane that filters out carbon dioxide from the blood before allowing the blood to flow back into the body, where it gets resupplied with oxygen by the lungs.

The filtering process, called gas exchange, is normally carried out by the lungs. But if they are malfunctioning, they are unable to extract the carbon dioxide and the body’s vital organs become starved of oxygen and begin to shut down. The NovaLung needs to remove only relatively small amounts of blood at a time to keep the body supplied with oxygen. It is not intended as a permanent replacement, but it could last for months, or even years, by replacing the membrane inside.
AVAILABLE: Now — the NovaLung has already been used in Britain.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2052995/Eyelids-ovaries-Bionic-spare-parts-new-lease-life.html#ixzz1bu3Yf0U4