Surgeons and critical care specialists at Northwestern Medicine have demonstrated a remarkable new way to manage otherwise fatal lung failure by temporarily replacing both lungs with a total artificial lung system. Using this approach, the team sustained a critically ill patient for 48 hours after bilateral lung removal, creating a narrow but lifesaving window for a successful double lung transplant. The case was recently reported in the journal Med. Figure 1 .
Artificial lung system. Source: Northwestern Medicine The patient, a man from Missouri, was transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in early 2023 while receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for severe respiratory failure. His illness began with influenza but quickly spiraled into destructive pneumonia that caused widespread lung tissue breakdown and uncontrolled bloodstream infection. Despite full intensive…
