UM SOM: Artificial Organs Lab

Integrated Artificial Pump Lungs for Respiratory Failure

Overview

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Numerical Prediction of Shear Stress-Induced Hemolysis

Development of the Pump Lungs

Evaluation and Development of Non-Thrombogenic Fiber Coatings

In-Vivo Evaluation of Functionality, Biocompatibility, Hemocompatibility and Durability in Animals

Overview

Nearly 344,000 Americans die of lung disease yearly. It is the number three killer in the US. Lung disease costs the American economy $148 billion in total expenditures. While progress for heart disease and cancer, the number one and number two causes of death, have been marked by a significant fall in their rates of death (36.6% for heart disease since 1979), the rate of death from lung disease rose by 19.3%.

Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) afflicts approximately 150,000 US patients annually, and despite advances in critical-care medicine, ARDS mortality remains between 40% and 50%. Currently available therapies using mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) have not been effective and have even proven harmful to some patients. While lung transplantation has become an effective treatment over the past twenty years, fewer than 1000 lung transplants are performed in the United States annually due to the shortage of organ donors.

In our research, we are working to present novel active-mixing pump lungs (AMPL), with the goal of providing total respiratory support to an ambulatory patient. Our objectives were:

To develop computational fluid dynamics (CFD), based on multidisciplinary modeling, to optimize the function and flow field related biocompatibility of the artificial pump lung (APL).
To validate the computationally predicted flow characteristics of the APL design in a circulatory flow loop using a glycerol/water solution.
To evaluate the function and flow-field biocompatibility of the APL in a circulatory loop using fresh ovine blood and 8-hour in-vivo animal studies.
To reduce in-vitro and in-vivo fibrin generation, platelet activation and thrombosis by modifying blood-contacting polymer surfaces on the APL device.
To perform 30-day in-vivo ovine experiments to assess the long-term function, biocompatibility and durability of the APL device and its effect on the animal.