Welsh company Haemair’s prosthetic lung just won UK Institution of Chemical Engineers’ Stopford Projects Award for Bioprocess Innovation.
Normally, when a patient’s lungs don’t function, the patient is put on an ECMO system, an external machine that functions like a lung. The problem with these machines is that they are pretty bulky. Haemair has made a system that is much smaller and can be worn outside the body or placed inside the body. This will allow patients to be mobile and potentially live a more normal life. Plus, if you believe the pictures, it makes you look like the T2000.
The device can be easily maintained or removed but I’m just not sure how safe it is going to be. As is the problem with most devices like these, there is a high risk of fatal blood clots and infections. They are planning start off with an external device and then eventually move on to implanted ones. So we’ll see if it works.