British researchers are proposing the use of breathing machines in the treatment of patients who are suffering severe symptoms like breathing troubles as a result of the swine flu.

The machine is one typically used for asthmatic patients however the British researchers believe that some swine flu patients do better if their blood is run through a heart-lung machine than if they are attached to a conventional ventilator.

According to the New York Times, "the technology has been around since the 1980s and has saved the lives of thousands of premature infants with underdeveloped lungs."

"The British study, which took eight years and screened 766 patients to find two groups of 90 to undergo competing treatments, found that ECMO gave adults a 16 percent better chance of survival. The study, paid for by Britain’s national health service, originally had nothing to do with swine flu and was created to help national health officials judge whether the benefits of the expensive technology outweighed its risks enough to justify the cost."

To read the full article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/health/research/16flu.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq=September+16+2009&st=nyt