An iron lung is a negative pressure ventilator, a large horizontal cylinder that encloses most of a person's body while the head remains outside, varying the air pressure inside the chamber to force breathing when a patient has lost control of their respiratory muscles or their breathing demands exceed their capacity. It was used to treat conditions including polio, botulism, and certain poisonings such as barbiturate overdose, and became largely obsolete with the development of newer breathing therapies and the near-eradication of polio in developed nations, though the COVID-19 pandemic renewed interest in it as a cheap, producible alternative to positive-pressure ventilators during equipment shortages. Smaller variants called cuirass ventilators enclose only the torso rather than the whole body.
Facts
Classification
StatusDiscontinued or Obsolete 1 Iron Lung
Filter Results1 entry
FAQs
Why was the Emerson iron lung allowed to compete with the original Drinker design?
Emerson's lawyers showed that Drinker's technologies already existed; the patents were declared invalid.
In 1931 John Haven Emerson improved on the Drinker design by making the bed slide in and out of the cabinet and adding portholes so staff could reach the patient without losing air pressure. Drinker and Harvard University sued, saying it was too similar to the original. According to the Science Museum, Emerson's lawyers showed that all the technologies used by Drinker already existed and so could not be patented, and Emerson won the case and all the patents were declared invalid.
Connections
Treats
Source Iron lung (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_lung, lead sectionQuote, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_lung, lead section
An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator, a mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person's body and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space to stimulate breathing.
2. Iron lung (Wikipedia)
Lead section (origin-year)
The first widely used device was the iron lung, developed by Philip Drinker and Louis Shaw in 1927, with the first clinical use being in 1928.
Treats: Respiratory Failure, Article text, use for
Initially used to treat coal gas poisoning, the iron lung gained fame for treating respiratory failure caused by polio in the mid-20th century.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.