Here's a review of the liquid:

Liquivent", it's commercial name, is manufactured by a Biotech Company in
San Diego. As well as carrying oxygen, liquivent has a gentle therapeutic
effect on the lungs, unlike air forced in at high pressure. The liquid fills
the many tiny collapsed air sacs of the patient's lungs, providing the basis
for the vital exchange of oxygen into the blood.

Due to it's density (it is twice as dense as water) and it's capacity to
carry 25 items as much oxygen than water, it can oxygenate the blood long
enough to give damaged lungs the necessary time to heal. It has enormous
potential for many patients with lung and breathing disorders including
infants with very low birth weight and respiratory distress syndrome. It has
also been used on patients who have been close to drowning, and may even by
used in the future on lung cancer patients.

The drug is currently being tested in approximately 55 paediatric centres
throughout America. The procedure hasn't been performed in Australia yet,
but as the evidence grows in support of its life saving capabilities, it
won't be long before we hear about the first case at home.


Development of Liquid Ventilation Techniques
History
The first reported "liquid breathing" experiments in the 1960's heralded the
promise of an alternative method for supporting distressed lungs.
Researchers found that mice could survive several hours with their lungs
filled with an oxygenated saline solution; subsequent use of oxygenated
silicone oils met with some success, but these fluids were ultimately found
to be toxic. The most significant finding of this period was the potential
for use of perfluorochemical (PFC) liquids. These liquids are clear,
colorless, odorless, nonconducting, and nonflammable; they are approximately
twice as dense as water, and are capable of dissolving large amounts of
physiologically important gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide). PFCs are
generally very chemically stable compounds, remaining unmetabolized
(unchanged) in body tissues.

The first physiological tests of PFCs demonstrated that mice and rats
submersed in oxygenated PFC fluids could survive for prolonged periods.
These findings led to extensive lung physiology studies of liquid breathing
using "tidal" or "total" liquid ventilation. This technique involves the
complete filling of the lungs with a PFC and, by use of a special liquid
ventilator machine, recirculation of the PFC between the patient's lungs and
various mechanical components that perform gas exchange, filtration and
temperature control. The first clinical feasibility study of tidal liquid
ventilation in compassionate treatments of several premature babies was
performed in 1989. While these studies demonstrated improvement in the
patients' lung compliance and gas exchange, further clinical studies were
not pursued due to the lack of a clinically applicable liquid ventilator
system and a pharmaceutical-grade PFC.



Breakthrough -- "Partial Liquid Ventilation"
A breakthrough occurred in 1991, when it was discovered that liquid
ventilation could be performed effectively in normal pigs without the use of
a liquid ventilator. Sustained, highly efficient gas exchange was achieved
by simply filling the lung with a PFC to a prescribed level, and then
reconnecting the conventional gas ventilator. This discovery, along with
expanded studies sponsored by Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., established the
feasibility of a simplified, practical method of liquid ventilation that
could lead to clinical applications. The PLV technique has now been shown to
produce significant improvements in lung function and viability in numerous
animal studies of diseased or injured lungs. By opening closed alveoli and
keeping them open with lower ventilator pressures and reduced oxygen
settings, and by increasing the flow of blood to the more open portions of
the lung, selected PFCs can apparently minimize lung damage and enable
earlier cessation of ventilator therapy.



Availability of Medical-Grade PFC
Development of PLV therapy for human use was accelerated by the use of
LiquiVent