Using chip technology to precisely mimic blood vessels in
the lungs could be a better way to treat patients with lung failure.
(June 2, 2015) A new
technology that re-creates important characteristics of structures in the lung
could eventually be a safer alternative to certain types of respiratory and
cardiac machines used to treat people whose lungs have failed due to disease or
injury.
By using manufacturing techniques originally designed to
make computer chips, biomedical engineers have in recent years made significant
progress toward mimicking the mechanisms of certain organ systems, the healthy
functionality of which is contingent on very precise chemical and physical conditions.
Blood, for example, is extremely sensitive to environments other than the ones
it encounters in healthy living systems. Now engineers at Draper Laboratory say
they’ve designed a new lung therapy, composed of tiny channels molded into a
biocompatible polymer that is capable of handling high blood flow rates. If
things go as they plan, the therapy will be much safer than those used today.