Project works on respiratory aids that mimic healthy lungs

The project’s director Dr Michael Lewis, senior lecturer at Swansea University, said: ‘Although Extracorporeal Life Support systems — or artificial lungs — can support immobile patients with lung disease, these devices restrict patients to high-dependency units in hospitals.

‘This innovative project aims to develop a prototype small-scale respiratory aid, which is capable of regulating blood oxygenation and carbon-dioxide removal, in response to patients’ different metabolic requirements — ultimately allowing them to enjoy a better quality of life.’

The project has two closely related aims, both of which relate primarily to blood oxygenation by direct blood/air mass exchange. 

The first aim is to develop an automated control system for a respiratory aid, which is capable of modifying blood oxygenation and carbon-dioxide removal, in order to meet the changing requirements of active patients. 

The second aim is to study the distribution of blood flow through small-scale prototype respiratory aids.

In contrast to existing devices, the aim is to produce a respiratory aid that does not set pre-specified blood gas compositions. Instead, this innovation will adjust gas compositions to changing metabolic demands.