Respirator Could Make Iron Lung Obsolete in Polio

Twenty years after presenting the world with the new-famous iron lung, the University School of Public Health has come up with the "electrophoresis respirator," a device that may make the artificial lung obsolete.

Developed over the past two years by Public Health School doctors Stanley J. Sarnoff and Dr. James L. Whittenberger, assistant professor of physiology, the new respirator induces artificial breathing by passing an electrical current through the phrenic nerve in the patient's neck.

Doctor Whittenberger revealed this week that at least one Boston police victim of the recent opidemic, was saved from death by the new machine. A six-day treatment brought the patient from a near hopeless condition to eventual recovery.

Other patients treated at the School and in Los Angeles by the three respirators so far constructed, have been able to maintain regular breathing for sustained period.

Helps Polio Victims

The electrophrenic respirator, which looks like a small horn radio, is designed to aid patients suffering from bulbar poliomyelitis. In this type of the disease, the phrenic nerve, running from the medulla to the breathing-control muscles of the diaphragm, is unharmed.

A patient suffering from bulbar polio is unable to breathe regularly. When current from the respirator is applied to the nerve, however, the natural, irregular breathing is suspended, and regular, controlled breathing is induced by the apparatus.

Because of this peculiarity of suspending the natural breathing, Dr. Whittenberger explained, the electrophrenic method is superior to the "Iron lung" in the treatment of the bulbar variation of the disease. The iron lung is unable to cope with the irregular breathing in cases of bulbar poliomyelitis.

On the other hand, the electrophrenic method cannot handle the more common, spinal type of paralysis. In spinal poliomyelitis, the phrenic nerve is in-operative.

Besides treating polio, the electrophrenic method cannot handle the more common, spinal type of paralysis. In spinal poliomyelitis, the phrenic nerve is inoperative.

Besides treating polio, the electrophrenic device may he useful in cases of overdoses of sleeping pills, brain tumors, and overdoses of spinal anesthesia all of which sometimes cause paralysis of the breathing muscles.

Accident Inspires Invention

Dr. Sarnoff first got the idea for the respirator while watching an operation several years ago. In the operating room, the surgeon accidentally pinched the phrenic nerve and Dr. Sarnoff noticed that the diaphragm contracted.

He soon discovered that an electric current would have the same effect, and the respirator was born. Its principle is still the same. A current, varying n intensity, is passed through the nerve, contracting the muscles of the diaphragm. When the current is turned off by the machine, the diaphragm relaxes and a normal breathing cycle had resulted.

Unfortunately, it will be several years until the respirator is generally available. It can still only be operated by a person very skillful in its use.

Research on the respirator has been partly financed by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis