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Brian Vastag

JAMA. 2001;286:781.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Fast on the tail of a new artificial heart, researchers report that a bioengineered lung is nearing clinical trials. Unlike the AbioCor heart developed by Danvers, Mass, manufacturer Abiomed, implanted for the first time on July 2, the intravenous membrane oxygenator (IOM), as the new lung device is called, is not a self-contained replacement but more akin to an angioplasty catheter. By removing some of the respiratory load from the real lungs, the assist device may allow better healing for 750 000 patients with emphysema, chest trauma, or acute respiratory failure.

Inserted through a vein in the leg and guided into the vena cava, the several-foot-long IOM consists of about 1000 hollow fiber membranes. Oxygen enters these membranes through an external tube and flows through the fibers under vacuum pressure. Oxygen within each fiber diffuses through tiny pores in the fiber wall into the blood and is exchanged for . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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