MLIVE: Autocam Medical to Manufacture University of Michigan Ventilator Device
University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine researchers have invented a device that allows multiple patients to share a single ventilator, increasing the capacity to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients.
The VentMI splits oxygen output from a single ventilator to two patients, taking some pressure off hospitals to acquire additional ventilators during a time when healthcare systems across the globe need additional vital equipment for treating patients with the novel coronavirus.
In severe cases, COVID-19 can cause severe breathing problems that require a patient to use a ventilator to push oxygen into the lungs while their body fights off the infection.
One of the challenges in ventilator use during the pandemic is that the machines will only deliver pre-set pressure to all patients sharing the same ventilator, meaning patients must have similarly sized lungs with equal stiffness, UM experts said in a news release. Otherwise, additional pressure or oxygen volume may cause lung trauma.
The VentMI works like a scuba tank regulator, releasing highly compressed oxygen slowly at the pressure a patient’s lungs need to breathe, the inventors said. The device also has one-way valves and filters to prevent one patient’s cough from going to the other’s lungs.
