Lung dialysis to help treat COPD successfully tested in Italy

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Lung dialysis to help treat COPD successfully tested in Italy

Lung dialysis to help treat Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was successfully tested in Italy on Wednesday for the first time in the world.

The new method, which was tested at Molinette hospital in Turin and Sant’ Orsola hospital in Bologna, both in northern Italy, could significantly reduce mortality rates, a statement from Molinette hospital said.

COPD is mainly caused by pollution and cigarette smoke and is expected by experts to become the third-leading cause of death in Western countries by next year.

Normally, when COPD patients experience severe breathing difficulties, they are treated with non-invasive ventilation, consisting of masks which pump air into the lungs to remove carbon dioxide.

But when non-invasive ventilation fails, which happens in 25-50 percent of cases, they need to be connected to a ventilator through a tube, which is called invasive ventilation, and the risk of death increases up to 100 times.

The new method of lung dialysis, which was created and manufactured in Italy, is a low-invasive system that purifies the patients’ blood by reducing carbon dioxide level, the statement said.

Tests conducted on 25 COPD patients at the two hospitals suggested that lung dialysis can reduce the incidence of intubation from 33 percent to 12 percent and mortality rates from 35 percent to 7 percent, according to the statement.

 

Source: Xinhua

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