iron lungs
Polio-era ventilators
Iron lungs are mechanical respirators that encase the body below the neck, using alternating pressure to force air in and out of the lungs.
They kept polio patients alive when the disease paralyzed their breathing muscles.
The machines became iconic symbols of mid-twentieth-century epidemics before vaccines made them largely obsolete.
Figuratively, someone with iron lungs has exceptional breath capacity or vocal endurance.
- respiratorsMasks filtering harmful air
- breathingPulmonary gas exchange
- ventilatorMechanical breathing apparatus
- life supportSystems maintaining vital functions
- pulmonologyRespiratory medicine specialty
poliomyelitis · polio epidemic · diaphragm · respiratory muscles · polio · post-polio syndrome · negative pressure · pressure chamber · artificial respiration · oxygen therapy · chest cavity · muscular dystrophy · spinal cord injury · nebulizer · mechanical ventilation · breath of life · spirometer · bronchi
- medical historyHippocrates, germ theory, bloodletting, Galen, four humors
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