Ventilator Adaptation

With the world in the grip of coronavirus, the demand for ventilators to treat the sickest patients is leading to shortages of these invaluable machines. Each device is designed for one patient only, but desperate times mean doctors are examining ways to adapt them to treat two or more patients simultaneously. Simply splitting the air tubes isn’t an option if the patients have different lung capacities, however, as air at different pressures would be required. Researchers have therefore devised a possible fix. Using commonly available hospital supplies – a tracheal tube, a clamp, and a pressure sensor – air pressure can be dialled down in one branch of a divided tube to theoretically allow treatment of two patients with differing needs. The set up (pictured with experimental 'lungs') has not been tested on patients and is not recommended other than for dire emergencies. Sadly, though, such emergencies may become all too common.

Written by Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams

Writer

Ruth is a freelance science journalist based in the US. She's a regular correspondent for The Scientist, and her work has appeared in The Lancet, Nature, Scientific American Mind, BBC Focus and elsewhere. Twitter @rooph

Website

• Image from Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Department of Anaesthesia, Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Anaesthesia, April 2020