When patients have low oxygen levels, doctors use various types of breathing machines to deliver oxygen to the lungs - but it's not always effective. Now, scientists have taken inspiration from a small fish called the loach and developed a method to deliver oxygen through... the butt. This is particularly pertinent in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, where physicians have struggled to find adequate ways to oxygenate patients in respiratory failure due to viral pneumonia. In this episode, Ellen and Derek discuss a new, rather eccentric paper that delivers oxygen anally in order to treat respiratory failure. This technology could prove to be a useful method in effectively treating hypoxia and respiratory failure.

Okabe et al. Mammalian enteral ventilation ameliorates respiratory failure. Med, June 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.medj.2021.04.004

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