Scots Researchers Pioneer Portable ECMO Treatment
05 October 09
A life-saving breathing support treatment used to help patients badly affected by swine flu could become available across the UK under a pioneering research project at the University of Strathclyde.
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| Picture courtesy of the University of Strathclyde |
Bioengineers are working with doctors in Glasgow to develop a new, portable form of Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation - known as ECMO - that could be used in intensive care, and hospital wards around the country.
The treatment is thought to save one extra life for every six patients compared with conventional treatment for those who are critically ill. But the complex and expensive treatment is currently only available to adults at one hospital in the UK, and at five centres for children.
The Strathclyde research team is working on a new, integrated form of ECMO that requires fewer specialized staff and could be used in regular intensive care wards.
Professor Terry Gourlay of the Bioengineering Unit at the University of Strathclyde said:
"ECMO is a complex treatment and can be used when a patient has respiratory distress syndrome - a condition when the lungs are badly damaged and it's difficult to get enough oxygen into the blood stream. Without oxygen, the organs begin to fail.
"The treatment takes over the job of the lungs while they recover. Blood is taken from the veins and pumped through a gas exchange system outside the body to add oxygen and remove carbon dioxide.
"Presently, these systems are very complex and ECMO machines require access to mains supplies and a range of clinical specialists. We're developing a new, integrated system that requires fewer specialist staff to operate it and can be portable. Our aim is to create a smaller system that can be used in any intensive care unit, making treatment available to a much greater number of people.
"Our approach has been to integrate all the major components of the ECMO system in a small and disposable unit which under operational conditions is computer controlled, using data generated by integrated biosensors. In addition to this, our new technology can be operated independently of mains water and power supplies, further enhancing its clinical deployment potential beyond the highly specialist ECMO setting.
"Using this new integrated and self-regulating technology, it should be possible to deploy ECMO to a wider patient population."
The team is working closely with Cardio-Thoracic surgeons in Glasgow, who, together with the Strathclyde team, identified the need for a new form of integrated ECMO over a year ago.
Dr. Mark Danton, Consultant Paediatric Cardiac Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon at Glasgow's Yorkhill and Golden Jubilee Hospitals, said:
"In our service ECMO has proved invaluable in the treatment of both children and adults with life threatening deterioration of heart or lung function. The use of ECMO has saved lives that would have been otherwise unlikely to survive by alternative therapy. The Strathclyde group propose to optimise the treatment through innovations in design and technology. Potentially this will deliver the treatment more effectively and with a wider application than is the current standard."
The team is now looking for research funding to further support their work.
The limited access to ECMO treatment in the UK meant one Scottish swine flu patient had to be flown to Stockholm for the treatment in July.
Professor Gourlay and his team are also looking at other applications for the new, integrated technology. It is hoped a similar portable and completely integrated system could be used in the military setting to treat soldiers with blast lung injuries and possibly sustain the viability of tissues in severely injured limbs. The UK military has expressed an interest in these novel applications.
More information on the University of Strathclyde Dept of Bioengineering
Source: www.nexxusscotland.com
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