# Why no artificial lungs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-artificial-lungs/340764 "2006-01-20T02:44:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-artificial-lungs/340764/21 "2006-01-21T02:08:37Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > [SRALT/LRALT](http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/sralt.html), and no, I didn’t work on those programs. (Actually they’re just launching smaller boosters built from first or second stage MM motors, and out of C-130s and C-17s. The thing I did was far more…reality-challenged than that. I think I’m thinking of a [different program](http://www.siloworld.com/MINUTEMAN/Airmobile/airmobile.htm). I’m kinda afraid to think of what would be more insane a scheme than _that!_ ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-artificial-lungs/340764/22 "2006-01-21T03:31:21Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > I think I’m thinking of a [different program](http://www.siloworld.com/MINUTEMAN/Airmobile/airmobile.htm). > > I’m kinda afraid to think of what would be more insane a scheme than _that!_ Heck, I was barely out of diapers when that program was demonstrated. I was a bit precocious a child, but not by that much. 😃 Stranger ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-artificial-lungs/340764/23 "2006-01-21T03:50:33Z")
I’ve done a few weeks in the NICU (neonatal ICU) where the disasters are the unfortunate cases that end up on ECMO. It is a scary, scary machine. A tech has to be present 24 hours a day. There are established protocols on what to do if the machine breaks, which it tends to do quite often. The two problems is that a significant percentage of the body’s blood is actually outside of the body during ECMO. This, as others have described, leads to all kinds of problems. IIRC, there is actually a crank on the ECMO in order to run it by hand if the motor dies or power goes off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-artificial-lungs/340764.md?page=1)