Scientists May Have Found a Way to Inject Oxygen Into The Bloodstream Intravenously

There are many illnesses and injuries, including COVID-19, where the body struggles to get the amount of oxygen into the lungs necessary for survival.

In severe cases, patients are put on a ventilator, but these machines are often scarce and can cause problems of their own, including infections and injury to the lungs.

It is possible that scientists have found a breakthrough that could affect how ventilators are used.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is a technique where blood is carried outside the body so that oxygen can be added and carbon dioxide can be removed.

Oxygen may be added directly, and the patient's blood can stay where it is, thanks to a new discovery. Having this approach available could save lives with a condition like refractory hypoxemia, which can be brought on by being on a ventilator.

If successful, the technology described may help to avoid or decrease the incidence of lung injury from hypoxemia.

The new technique uses nozzles that are smaller and smaller to carry the oxygen-laden liquid. By the time the process is finished, the bubbles are smaller than red blood cells, and that means they can be injected into the bloodstream without blocking blood vessels.

The bubbles are coat with a lipid membrane before they are added to the blood, which prevents toxicity and stops the bubbles from clumping together. Oxygen is released after the solution is injected.

Within a few minutes, the blood oxygen saturation levels could be raised from 15 percent to over 95 percent. The process increased saturation from 20 percent to 50 percent in live rats.

The researchers write that the devices allow us to control the dosage of oxygen delivered and the volume of fluid administered, both of which are critical parameters in the management of critically ill patients.

This is a proof of concept for now and it has not been tested on people. They seem to have found a formula that works with the size of the bubbles and the coating used.

Getting oxygen into the body like this is a difficult balancing act, because it can be difficult to get enough oxygen in the body if you add too much or too little. Before moving on to human trials, the researchers want to test their technology on larger animals.

It is not possible to completely replace ventilators or ECMO life support in its current form, but it is hoped that the new device may be able to better prepare the body to be put on these machines, or keep the lungs going until a ventilator becomes available.

It is worth mentioning that our device could potentially be integrated into existing ventilators, allowing for seamless integration into existing clinical workflows, according to the researchers.

The research has been published.