I.D. 02/08: Can´t Stop the Beat Magazin: I.D. The International Design Magazine Ausgabe: 02/2008, February 2008 Artikel: Can´t Stop the Beat. A novel device saves lives on the go. Can´t Stop the Beat. A novel device saves lives on the go. “...The world´s first portable heart-lung machine, the 39-pound Lifebridge B2T enables paramedics to stabilize a collapsed patient in just five minutes, much faster than it takes to transport the patient to a hospital and put him or her on lif support. The device can be used at crime scenes, car accident sites, and gymnasiums, as well as in transporting patients between care facilities and in supporting certain cardiac surgeries. At the core of the $30.000 B2T, which was designed by Germany´s Uli Guth in collaboration with Klaus Hackl, is its patient module for oxygenating blood; it drops into the unit´s shell like an ink cartridge drops into a printer. Beyond its compact portable form, the module´s key feature is its ability to rotate 90 degrees to clear out any air in the system that could cause a deadly embolism, an innovation that gave rise to Lifebridge´s cyclindrical shape. The base of each B2T contains a power unit that can sustain a two-hour charge; it drives a centrifugal pump, which can deliver up to 6 liters of blood per minute directly into a patient´s femoral artery. On top of the machine, a color touchscreen walks paramedics through its operation step by step. “The ultimate goal was to make the device look easy to use and not intimidating. ... We wanted people to understand something about how it worked just by looking at it. The early design actually looked more like a suitcase.” Of course, until manufacturer Lifebridge Medizintechnik AG can win FDA approval (likely some time in 2009), American hospitals won´t have access to the B2T. But 15 are already in use in Germany and italy, and the company estimates that it has so far saved 25 lives - far better odds than are attainable by all those other other one-handed wonders.” Text by Michael Wiklund