The technique sounds so outlandish that it won an IgNobel prize in 2024. But the science behind rescuing people with blocked airways and clogged lungs by rectally delivering oxygen to the body is no joke.
In fact, positive results were published Oct. 20, 2025, in the journal Med regarding the first human clinical trial to evaluate the potential benefits of “enteral ventilation.”
“This is the first human data, and the results are limited solely to demonstrating the safety of the procedure and not its effectiveness. But now that we have established tolerance, the next step will be to evaluate how effective the process is for delivering oxygen to the bloodstream,” says Takanori Takebe, MD, PhD, a leading expert in organoid medicine with dual appointments at Cincinnati Children’s and the University of Osaka in Japan.
What is enteral ventilation?
This concept envisions an enema-like process that uses a super-oxygenated liquid to deliver life-supporting oxygen to the bloodstream by absorbing it through the colon.
A key paper detailing initial findings in a porcine model was featured on the cover of Med in 2021 and later in the popular Canada-based science television show The Nature of Things. That early work led to Takebe and colleagues receiving an IgNobel Prize in 2024.
