Many remember the awe inspiring scene in The Abyss where a rat is able to breathe in a liquid environment. This is a reference to real oxygen carrying perfluorocarbon (PFC) liquid which does have medical use and as early as the 1990’s was being considered as an alternative method of ventilating of patients with severe ARDS by providing a higher level of oxygen to the lungs with liquid rather than by forced gas ventilation. Transonic clamp-on tubing Flowsensors were successful in measuring flow delivery of this novel PFC liquid even though its very high specific gravity slowed the acoustic signal almost off scale and specialized calibration processes were required. Transonic’s willingness to find custom solutions for novel experimental problems makes Transonic a responsive partner for this kind of innovative research.

This research into liquid ventilation and pivotal studies to develop ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) treatments were performed at the Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor in the research laboratory of Dr. Robert Bartlett, Dr. Ronald Hirschl and others. Once considered an experimental treatment only for critically ill babies, ECMO systems provide heart-lung bypass life support to oxygenate the blood outside of the body via bypass pumps. This treatment, now also applied in critically ill adult patients, relies on the continuous flow of the patient’s blood pumped through the bypass tubing over a period of days to weeks. Transonic clamp-on Flowsensors ensure the flow rate is adequate and life sustaining. Transonic was the first to provide external, non-invasive clamp-on Flowsensors for these ECMO tubing blood lines. From bench to bedside, Transonic flow measurement sensors ensure the robust design and high performance of these and many other biomedical devices.