Just saw The Abyss on FX, and was intrigued by the Oxygenated Flurocarbon Emulsion liquid, a liquid one can breathe like air.
Could they use this fluid to lavage (Wash) the lungs of debris one cannot simply cough up?
I figure, this would be a boon from old coal miners suffering from black-lung, as well as recovering smokers.
Woah! I started this thread without looking at the liquid that does nothing thread…the same stuff!
In believed that there is research going on towards lung-bathing with perfluorocarbons, but last I heard, there are serious complications after the treatment finishes.
There was just a question about this on the How Stuff Works website. Here’s the link Hope it helps.
We’ve been over this a couple times here as well:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=49254
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=43136
Recap:
The research goes clear back to the 60’s. At first it was being researched for use in diving, but currently is mostly used in the treatment of premature infants.
As for diving use, in the early days, the animals they tried the stuff on died from pulmonary damage after they pulled them out, but they’ve refined the technique to the point where they’ve used it on dogs who have survived with slight hypoxia and mild pulmonary edema as aftereffects. Somebody claimed that people who have volunteered to try it have found the experience to be so horrible that they wouldn’t do it again for anything.
The rat in “The Abyss” was really being dunked in the stuff.
Your “moment of zen”: