‘New ’21st Century iron lung’ ventilator could revolutionise COVID- treatment’

British experts have designed a new type of ventilator that may allow more patients with severe COVID-19 to be treated outside of intensive care, easing pressure on hospitals hard hit by the coronavirus crisis. The researchers said their device, known as Exovent, is more comfortable for the patient, cheaper than those currently being used in […]

British experts have designed a new type of ventilator that may allow more patients with severe COVID-19 to be treated outside of intensive care, easing pressure on hospitals hard hit by the coronavirus crisis.

The researchers said their device, known as Exovent, is more comfortable for the patient, cheaper than those currently being used in intensive care units (ICU) and requires few staff to manage it.

Exovent is a negative pressure ventilator – which means it works by lowering the pressure outside the body to allow lung tissue to expand and function in a way that resembles normal breathing.

The device, which is modelled on the ‘iron lung’ used to battle the polio crisis in the 20th century, works differently from the conventional positive pressure ventilators which, instead, pushed air into the lungs.

Researchers found it was ‘able to deliver both an increased lung expansion to people breathing spontaneously and powerful ventilation to take over people’s breathing entirely, using only moderate negative pressures’.

As positive pressure devices became much smaller, cheaper and more convenient over the years, research into negative pressure devices was mostly abandoned since the 1950s.

However, the scientists behind Exovent said negative pressure devices are far less intrusive than either positive pressure ventilation, where a tube is inserted into the windpipe, or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), where oxygen is delivered through a tightly-fitting face mask.

Patients do not need to be sedated and can take food and medication by mouth, as well as talk to loved ones on the phone when using Exovent, they added.

The new ventilator was previously endorsed by the family of the late theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

Ian Joesbury, the chief executive of Exovent, said: ‘We are really excited to be unveiling this life-saving system which is a cutting-edge reinvention of pre-existing technology.

A team of anaesthetists, nurses and engineers were involved in the design of the Exovent chamber, which consists of a base fitted onto a standard hospital bed. – Mail Online