Cadaver Lungs Still Breathing On Respirator

The title says it all, Cadaver Lungs Still Breathing On Respirator

I dont know if this footage is real but it looks kinda real so i might as well share it here, found this while surfing the net.

Video Link

Well as the video description says, first horrible step in creating a zombie apocalypse
Personally I dont even know how they did it, but looks cool anyways. So what you guys think??

That is [snipped] up.

Like seriously. Zombies will be the next apocalypse. I'm starting to actually believe in that theory.

I dont' really understand what the goal of the project is? Other than to perhaps create artificial lungs?

Strange..

~Keeper

[edit on 4/17/2010 by tothetenthpower]

I think the human body is amazing!

While the rest of the body might not be of use, who is to say that keeping lungs breathing before they go into the body of a person who needs a transplant is a bad thing.

None of us understand completely how we work, when we are all put together.

Zombies?

I don't think that will ever happen, because I believe that part of what makes us work outside of all the mechanics, is a soul.

I guess the good thing is that if they can do this with lungs, maybe they will be able to do it with a heart, or liver, or any other vital organ...shoot, maybe they will be able to keep a brain alive to be able to transplant it to another body. I do see the good applications in this, but as 10^ said (hehe) it could also be the sign of the zombies invading...haha...



Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

Originally posted by tothetenthpower


I dont' really understand what the goal of the project is? Other than to perhaps create artificial lungs?

Strange..

~Keeper

[edit on 4/17/2010 by tothetenthpower]

well im sure there is a reason why there experimenting on this but man that is a weird experiment kinda creepy

What's so bizarre about that? I mean you can get muscles to contract by giving a zap of electricity, hearts can pump using electricity also.

Maybe this is a good way to keep transplant lungs good for a little longer?

Aren't they just pushing air into the lungs? I dont see the shock value in this, other than seeing human lungs. The lungs are being inflated and deflated, its not like they are breathing by themselves. See the air tube going into it? What would be impressive is if they had an organ not being manipulated that was functioning outside a human body. You do know that scientists can pump blood through a heart and make it beat dont you?

reply to post by treemanx


Yes, but they are not just forcing air...the lungs are still viable.

Air could be forced into the lungs of a person dead for many weeks? Sure, but what good would they be?

Lungs are pretty easily manipulated, this isn't very big news, and I doubt we'll be able to do this with many other organs, especially the heart and brain.

In my line of work, I see people that are brain dead who have their organs harvested for donations. You can only harvest organs from people that are clinically brain dead.

It is extremely time consuming, and all of the details have to be worked out intensely, very quickly, and with every detail to perfection. Once the death pronouncement is made, the body begins to die itself rather rapidly.

The time frame is literally hours until organs one by one become unuseable, depending on the physical state of the body and the drugs needed to support it.

People who are recipients have to be contacted and moved to hospitals, organ flights from all over the city/state/country have to organize and come to the state and travel to the hospital to receive these organs. Time is of the essence both in preparing the physical body being kept alive by life support, drugs, and a team of doctors.

The harvesting itself is very complicated and a team also does this.

Organs have only a small window of opportunity, literally only hours, until the useable tissues' time expires. Anything that can prolong this time window making it possible that someone receive lifegiving organs is a wonder and a gift.

Some people can benefit from one lung, some people need both. As of now, the preferred way is to do them at the same time, and almost always in conjunction with the heart. That leaves a 4 hour window, from the time the organs are removed to the time they *must* be implanted and filled with blood and nutrients again. Even then, there is no guarantee that the organs will live in the recipients' body.

Either way, being able to do anything to extend that time can only be of benefit. Lots of people die every day because time was the only thing that stood in their way of having life over death.

Keeping organs such as lungs alive while on a respirator alone isn't a viable option. All that is being done here is filing the alveolar with oxygen. It order to keep the actual lung tissue alive you would need circulating blood coming to the lung tissue.

The alveolar are where the exchange occurs; where oxygen enters the bloodstream and carbon dioxide(CO2) is removed. There is no apparent mechanism that is circulating blood to the lung tissue here.

As for moving harvested organs from a donor to recipient body, the organs are kept cool. In an ice chest. Not all organs have to be transplanted within a few hours, but most do. The heart and lungs do though.

These lungs are most probably from a cadaver as the title suggests and way beyond the point of being viable to transplant. I am quite certain that this footage is real and is actually lungs being inflated and deflated by an external ventilator.

This is more than likely a training film/session for medical students or respiratory therapists to see the actual lung inflation as air passes through and is exchanged there, and/or ventilator training. There is no practical use for this in any other way that I can see.



[edit on 17-4-2010 by webpirate]