CUSTOM MACHINE KEPT MAN ALIVE WITHOUT LUNGS FOR 48 HOURS

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

An artificial lung system built by a team at Northwestern University successfully kept a critically ill patient alive long enough to enable a double lung transplant. The surgery involved temporarily replacing the patient's entire pulmonary system with a synthetic surrogate. The patient lived for two days without lungs. They received donor lungs after 48 hours, when their body was no longer suffering from sepsis. The patient has returned to a normal, independent life with excellent lung function.