ABSTRACT
I. Introduction From assisting an injured or recently transplanted lung to completely replacing the native organ, many obstacles had to be overcome to make the artificial lung a reality. With patients on the lung transplant list far exceeding available donors, the importance of developing a suitable bridge or replacement technology grows more every day. The number of individuals requiring a lung transplant is on the rise. From 1997 to 2007, there has been an 11% increase in the number of candidates on the lung transplant list (1). Additionally, only 18% of the 13,154 lungs from organ donors were transplanted in 2006; 81% were not recovered (1). The reason for this discrepancy was cited as “poor organ function,” leading to an even greater disparity between needed and available lungs (1). As such, research has focused not merely on an artificial lung as a replacement organ but rather an artificial lung as a bridge to transplantation (2,3) or recovery, as a support device following transplant, or simply as an adjunct to mechanical ventilation (2,4).
