Overview
- Northwestern Medicine surgeons removed a 33-year-old patient's infected lungs in 2023 and sustained him on an externally configured total artificial lung for two days before a successful double lung transplant, according to a Med paper published January 29.
- The system oxygenated blood, cleared carbon dioxide, and actively routed blood from the right to the left heart to maintain normal cardiac output, a function the team says distinguishes it from conventional ECMO.
- The patient’s influenza-triggered ARDS was compounded by drug-resistant Pseudomonas necrotizing pneumonia, septic shock, and heart and kidney failure, but his hemodynamics and organ function recovered once the diseased lungs were removed.
- Single-cell and spatial transcriptomic analysis of the explanted lungs showed widespread immune injury and end-stage fibrotic signatures, providing biological evidence that some severe ARDS cases are irreversible and warrant transplantation.
- Researchers and outside experts describe the approach as a proof-of-concept feasible at highly specialized centers and call for registries, multicenter evaluation, biomarker development, and standardization before broader adoption.