artifical lung a first in north america

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Artificial lung a surgical first in North America Updated Wed. Feb. 14 2007 7:51 PM ET toronto.ctv.ca The survivor of a rare lung disease that nearly claimed her life spoke on Wednesday about the experience, and the technology Toronto doctors used for the first time in North America. Yen Tran was making plans for her death while lying in an intensive care unit bed at Toronto General Hospital, as she suffered from Pulmonary Hypertension. "I thought I was going to die within two years," the 21-year-old mother of three said. "That was the expectation, so I was planning my death." In fact, Trans did actually die last December, but doctors managed to revive her. Her condition was rendering Tran's lungs unusable, and as she waited in hospital for a transplant her situation became dramatically worse. "She was blue-lipped, struggling. It was very, very difficult to watch," ICU nurse Lesley Barrans said. Physicians and nurses decided on a quick course of action. Toronto General Hospital had been conducting trials of the so-called 'Novalung' device but they had no experience using it with a patient. Desperate, they decided to try the Novalung on Tran. "We were doing a formal trial to study this device for a bridge to transplant but Dr. Reynolds, who was part of our team looking at that, said, 'If we don't do something soon this girl is not going to survive,'" Dr. Shaf Keshavgjee recalled. The device had never before been used on a patient in North America, although it had been tested successfully elsewhere in the world. Powered by the patient's own heart, the Novalung is a small device that allows a patient to get oxygen into their bloodstream while waiting for a lung transplant. "It really performs the function of a lung, in a little box like that. It's really quite remarkable," said Keshavgjee. Tran's lungs and heart failed, leaving her technically dead. But the Novalung, in part, helped revive her and keep her alive for two days, until she was given a lung transplant. "I am grateful," said Trans. "It brought me back to life." Healthy today, Tran is glad the medical team took the chance and bought her some time. "I remember slowly not being able to do things and feeling my life just wasting away," she said. "And now I'm here and doing a lot more than I was ever able to do." She added that had she not been placed on the Novalung, Tran would not have been able to be with her children. With a report by CTV's Avis Favaro, Elizabeth St. Philip and Janice Golding User Tools * Print This Page * E-Mail Story * Feedback * Fonts:BiggerSmaller Top Stories * Opposition Kyoto bill passes third reading * Harper says he wants more law-and-order judges * Staff tape shut elderly woman's mouth in N.S. home * Artificial lung a surgical first in North America * Canadian oil facilities on Saudi group's hit list * Fla. teen hiccuping for more than three weeks Video * CTV Toronto: Janice Golding covers the transplant 1:37 Related Stories * Canada's transplant system lagging: expert * SickKids sets new record for heart transplants * Ont. launches $1M consultation on organ donation * Ont. sisters want new organ donation laws Web Links * Novalung User Tools