Overview
- A 33-year-old man with influenza-associated ARDS, necrotizing drug-resistant pneumonia, sepsis, and cardiac arrest was transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in spring 2023.
- Surgeons performed a bilateral pneumonectomy and used a total artificial lung system that handled oxygenation and CO₂ removal while maintaining physiologic cardiac flow.
- The device used a flow-adaptive shunt and dual return configuration to mimic lung physics, protecting the right heart and preventing left-heart collapse or clot formation.
- Removing the infection source stabilized other organs, enabling a double-lung transplant 48 hours later, and the patient remains fully independent with excellent lung and heart function two years on.
- RNA sequencing of the explanted lungs showed extensive scarring and immune injury, supporting the view that some severe ARDS cases will not recover without transplantation, though broader use of this approach will require specialized centers and further validation.