Ventilator could be used to treat Covid patients outside ICU

TREATMENT

UK EXPERTS have designed a new type of ventilator that may allow more patients with severe Covid-19 to be treated outside of intensive care.

The researchers said that their device, known as exovent, is more comfortable for the patient, cheaper than those being used in intensive care units (ICU), and requires fewer staffing resources 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.

It works differently from the conventional positive pressure ventilators which, instead, push air into the lungs. As positive pressure devices became much smaller, cheaper and more convenient over the years, research into negative pressure devices has been mostly abandoned since the 1950s.

However, the scientists behind Exovent said that 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.

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.

“As the patient does not need to be sedated it opens up alternative treatment options that may allow more patients with Covid-19 to be treated outside of intensive care.”

The researchers said they are planning to submit their design to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).