Researchers invent a machine to remove alcohol from the body



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Every year in France, according to the latest data from Public Health France, 41,000 deaths are attributable to alcohol. In addition to cancer and cardiovascular disease caused by alcohol addiction, alcohol also kills when it is ingested too heavily in one go. This is called acute alcohol poisoning and is extremely complicated to treat in the emergency room.

Researchers from the University of Toronto Health Network may have found the solution, according to the publication of their work in Scientific Reports., Relayed by The Guardian.

Their idea is to lend a hand to the liver, which suffers from the amount of alcohol to metabolize. While dialysis has shown its limits, when the patient arrives in the ICU dead drunk, controlling hyperventilation would offer very satisfactory results.

The lungs help the liver

During hyperventilation, which is characterized by breathing deeper and faster than normal, the body removes carbon dioxide from the blood along with alcohol. This process is accompanied by many side effects: dizziness, numbness in the extremities, fainting …

With a device the size of a small case, using a system of valves, tubes, a mask and a reservoir of compressed carbon dioxide, it is possible to allow the patient to overcome these side effects. With each breath, the alcohol is removed and carbon dioxide is kept at a normal level in the blood. The lungs thus become the best organ to overcome intoxication.

According to tests by Canadian researchers, with this technique, the body would be able to metabolize alcohol at a rate three times faster than if the liver were doing all the work. Large-scale testing has yet to be done and, if successful, thousands of lives could be saved.

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