3DLung - Implantable Artifical Lung Based on Three-Dimensional Membranes

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Many chronic respiratory diseases can only be cured by lung transplants. However, the limited availability of donor organs leads to many deaths worldwide. Although extracorporeal lung assist devices (ECLA) can take over the lung’s function for a limited time, lasting solutions like an implantable artificial lung (IAL) remain out of sight. Current ECLA systems, all based on hollow-fiber (HF) membranes, struggle with the required O2 and CO2 exchange rates and eventually suffer from flow-induced blood clotting. Blood clotting is caused by unavoidable dead zones inherent to hollow-fiber arrangements. Hence, there is no technological path to build implantable devices based on existing systems. The tremendous progress in additive manufacturing technology over the last years enables the fabrication of much more complex geometries. This allows us to conceive totally new systems that will overcome current technical frontiers. Mathematically optimized structures, so-called triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS), promise superior surface to volume ratios, improved passive mixing and elimination of dead zones. These TPMS structures are ideal for a fundamentally improved membrane performance and organomimetic design. In our predecessor SPP project ”3D-printed membrane architectures for ECMO application”, we successfully fabricated porous 3D-membranes in the shape of a TPMS and proved their superiority over hollow fiber membranes. Encouraged by this major milestone we now propose to develop the first truly implantable artificial lung.Our interdisciplinary working group aims to achieve this ambitious goal with the following work program: With the medical expertise and estimation of surgical possibilities for the IAL, the geometrical constraints regarding the shape, volume and connectivity to patient/air supply will be identified. We will derive design strategies for the IAL by flow simulations and develop the optimal architecture of the IAL to maximize gas exchange within the geometric constraints. The resulting complex architecture will be fabricated with the help of additive manufacturing. Sophisticated methods for membrane fabrication will be adapted to meet the needs of this project. Finally, the first implantable artificial lung will be tested in the framework of this project in-vitro, ex-vivo and in-vivo tests using new advanced animal model systems. This project paths the way towards an implantable artificial lung.