In the mid-1990s, pediatric critical care doctors at UB
developed a revolutionary technique called partial liquid
ventilation (PLV) to treat respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), a
common, often fatal complication seen in premature infants. RDS
develops because the lungs of these tiny babies have yet to secrete
surfactant, the substance that prevents the air sacs from
collapsing.
Prior to the development of PLV, conventional therapy involved
increasing the pressure and oxygen concentration inside a
baby’s lungs in an effort to force more oxygen into the blood
stream. This sometimes caused permanent lung damage and resulted in
a chronic disease called bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
PLV introduces an oxygen-rich liquid called perflubron into the
baby’s lungs. The liquid allows the lungs to inflate with
less pressure than air, and permits oxygen and carbon dioxide to
pass through the air sacs and into the blood stream more easily and
efficiently.
Reaching this milestone took approximately 30 years. One of the
major barriers to clinical application around the world was the
fact that liquid breathing required a highly specialized
ventilator.
Bradley Fuhrman, MD, a UB professor of pediatrics and anesthesia
and chief of pediatric critical care at Women and Children’s
Hospital of Buffalo, simplified the entire process by discovering a
way to apply liquid breathing using a standard hospital
ventilator.
Today, PLV (sometimes known as perfluorcarbon-associated gas
exchange, or PAGE), also is used to treat children and adults with
severe respiratory distress syndrome.
In 2004, Fuhrman received the Distinguished Career Award from
the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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