Peritoneal Microbubble Oxygenation: An Extrapulmonary Respiration Treatment in Rabbits¹

Oxygen is one of the three basic essentials for sustaining life. Today's medical technology can supply oxygen to patients with lung damage from pneumonia, sepsis, and other bacterial or viral infections, physical trauma, and chemical or smoke inhalation through mechanical ventilation (MV) or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Despite these treatments, the mortality rate of patients ranges from 31–74% [1]. MV has been an ineffective method for delivering oxygen to the body in these cases because oxygen exchange is decreased by damage to the lung and because of increased stress caused to the injured lung by the treatment. ECMO is an expensive alternative therapy with limited availability in hospitals and length of treatment. ECMO is able to bypass the injured lungs to deliver oxygen and allow the lungs to heal, however, there is a high risk of thrombosis and contamination of the blood because it is removed from the...