Injectable Oxygen

In emergency situations, where a person’s lungs have filled with a liquid (e.g. pneumonia), life saving oxygen flow has a short window.  Ventilators do not work, because the lungs are blocked; heart-lung machines can be life saving, but they take time to hook up.  Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital, however, have developed a new technique—microparticles that carry oxygen and are delivered by intravenous infusion.  Presumably, these are gold particles, but unfortunately this piece is slight on the details though it does identify the developer, John Kheir, MD, for further contact.    MORE

Imaage Credit: D. Kunkel/Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc.; D. Bell/Harvard University; J. Kheir/Children’s Hospital Boston; C. Porter/Chris Porter Illustration