Development of a lung ultrasound therapy system for acute respiratory distress syndrome

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Treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a common disorder in intensive**care units with a mortality rate approaching 40%, is a considerable challenge. In ARDS, the**lungs are filled with fluid resulting in patients drowning in their own fluids. ARDS is one of the**most difficult conditions to treat because of its patchy distribution, where the fluid-filled regions**of the lung are interspersed within the normal lungs, causing conventional treatments to**preferentially affect the normal lungs rather than the injured regions. For instance, mechanical**ventilators, although life-saving, preferentially inflate the normal regions of the lung resulting**in overdistension and injury of the normal lung itself. Similarly, medicines given by inhalation**or injection preferentially affect the normal lungs or other organs in the body. Here we**propose a revolutionary form of personalized and targeted medicine to treat ARDS based on**ultrasound technology and microbubbles (tiny gas bubbles already used clinically for**diagnostic purposes). While the normal regions of lung scatter ultrasound waves (because**ultrasound is blocked by air), the ultrasound waves are able to penetrate the injured (fluidfilled**or collapsed) regions, allowing enhanced delivery of drugs like antibiotics to the**damaged lung. This approach is a revolutionary form of personalized medicine, since it will**allow the delivery of medicines and genes exactly where they are needed in each patient. In**this project, we will develop a clinical prototype of an ultrasound therapy system specifically**for the lungs and optimize treatment protocols using large animal models of ARDS. At the end**of the project, we will translate the study to a Phase I clinical trial in humans.