The COVID-19 pandemic rumbles on, and the response to contain and delay the virus is astronomical, with billions of dollars and enormous levels of labor and material resources being deployed to meet the challenge. One of the major bottlenecks in combatting the virus is a lack of testing supplies and essential equipment, such as respirators, […]
Tag: Critical Care
Blood Filtering Device Wins FDA Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19
The FDA has issued the first Emergency Use Authorization for a device to help treat COVID-19 patients currently in the ICU. Terumo BCT’s Spectra Optia Apheresis System, combined with Marker Therapeutics’ D2000 Adsorption Cartridge, is now indicated for adult patients with COVID-19 udergoing respiratory failure. The device is intended to lower the levels of cytokines […]
Researchers Turn One Ventilator into Two
A group of clinicians, medtech researchers, and companies based in Galway, Ireland, has developed a system that allows two patients to use one ventilator, essentially doubling the effectiveness of existing ventilator stocks during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Called the Galway VentShare system, the technology consists of viral filters, valves, tubing, CO2 sensors, and pressure and […]
Aranet Multi-Patient Temp Monitoring System Unveiled for COVID Clinics
Hospitals addressing the COVID-19 epidemic are worried about being short on ventilators, personal protective equipment, and appropriate bed space where patients can be treated. The biggest hurdle may be having enough staff to monitor large numbers of patients. To help address this matter, Aranet, a company that normally makes environmental monitoring solutions for industrial applications, […]
Electric Car Manufacturer Switches to Making Emergency Ventilators
Mullen Technologies, a company that’s aiming to soon start producing a high-performance electric car, has directed its engineering and manufacturing efforts into releasing an emergency ventilator for the current COVID-19 pandemic. The Mullen 8 ventilator, named for oxygen’s atomic number, is based on easily obtainable parts and will be mass-produced at the company’s Monrovia, California […]
Breast Pumps Converted Into Ventilators to Help COVID-19 Response
A team of engineers working at University of Maryland’s TechPort, typically a drone startup incubator, are converting breast pumps into rudimentary ventilators. Breast pumps create significant suction to pull milk out of a woman’s breast. Turns out the pressure, if reversed, can probably provide enough assistance to deliver the necessary positive end expiratory pressure that […]
University Converts CPAP Machines into Ventilators
As cities across the United States face ventilator shortages for COVID-19 patients, a group at Auburn University has developed a way to convert continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines into functioning ventilators. CPAP machines are commonly used by sleep apnea patients to help maintain an open airway during recumbent sleep. Engineers at Auburn University’s Department […]
Stryker Emergency Relief Bed to Help COVID Clinics
Stryker, a big name in the medical device space, is releasing its Emergency Relief Bed specifically designed for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The company claims it’ll be able to manufacture 10,000 of these per week as the demand for extra beds escalates and facilities are converted to temporary hospitals. The Stryker Emergency Relief Bed is […]
University Ventilator Supports Two Patients Independently
A group of engineers from Georgia Tech, Cranfield University in the UK, and Emory University, have developed their own version of a bag-mask-valve (Ambu-bag) ventilator. It combines the ubiquitous resuscitation bags that are found within hospitals and inside ambulances, a motorized device to squeeze the bag, and an oxygen concentrator. The nice thing is that […]
Materialise Breathing System to Help Reduce Need for Ventilators
Conventional mechanical ventilators are the go-to method when patients in severe respiratory distress need help breathing. As things stand, there’s an unprecedented demand around the world for ventilators to help patients acutely affected by COVID-19. Materialise, a leader in custom 3D manufacturing, has now developed and is moving through regulatory approval a technology that can […]
Do COVID-19 Vent Protocols Need a Second Look?
How what Cameron Kyle-Sidell, MD, saw in an NYC ICU prompted him to re-examine COVID-19 ventilator protocols WebMD
A Look at Tesla’s Prototype Ventilator
As the United States braces for what many think may be most critical weeks in the coronavirus crisis, many companies are temporarily pivoting their manufacturing capabilities to focus on the mass shortages of PPE and medical equipment. Most notably are car manufacturers that are using their expertise in hardware engineering and manufacturing to produce much-needed […]
Oxford’s Emergency Ventilator Project Steaming Ahead
The University of Oxford and King’s College London have teamed up to develop and are now testing a new emergency ventilator that consists of devices that commonly exist in clinical spaces and scientific laboratories, and a few simple parts that can be created through 3D printing. Bringing together these devices allows the team to create […]
AnapnoGuard Helps Prevent Ventilator Complications
Ventilators are important to maintain patients with severe respiratory distress due to COVID-19, but the machines carry their own risks. An over-inflated endotracheal tube cuff could damage the trachea, while an under-inflated cuff could result in aspiration and pneumonia. AnapnoGuard, developed by Hospitech Respiration, an Israeli firm, is an endotracheal tube plus control unit meant […]
CardioQuip’s Cooler-Heaters EU Cleared to Help With Respiratory Distress
CardioQuip, a firm based in College Station, Texas, won European regulatory approval (CE Mark) for its MCH-1000 cooler-heaters that are used to control patient body temperature, typically during lung or heart procedures. This could be particularly useful during the current COVID-19 pandemic, since the MCH-1000 can be used alongside extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to address […]
RAPIDPoint 500e Blood Gas Analyzer FDA Cleared to Help Ventilated Patients
To help address the COVID-19 emergency that’s taking over emergency rooms and intensive care units in the United States, the FDA has cleared the RAPIDPoint 500e blood gas system from Siemens Healthineers. The device uses the company’s Integri-sense technology to provide results on blood gas, electrolyte, metabolite, CO-oximetry, and neonatal bilirubin. This is important during […]
University of Minnesota Develops Simpler, Inexpensive Mechanical Ventilator
With the rise of COVID-19 cases throughout the United States, one of the biggest concerns is the potential shortage of ventilators for patients who have severe viral pneumonia. A team at the University of Minnesota has designed a mechanical ventilator that is inexpensive and made of easy to obtain materials. Unlike traditional ventilators, the Coventor […]
MIT Emergency Ventilator Submitted for FDA Review
The ongoing COVID-19 emergency affecting nearly the entire globe is making medical ventilators into a hot commodity. During normal times, busy intensive care units can expect to use a dozen or so ventilators at the same time. As a respiratory virus, COVID-19 can make breathing on one’s own impossible, so ventilators are expected to be […]
ViTrack for Direct, Continuous, Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Monitoring: Interview with CEO of Dynocardia, Dr. Mohan Thanikachalam
Most modern blood pressure cuffs use the oscillometric technique, in which the cuff measures one value (mean arterial pressure) and an algorithm calculates systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings. However, this indirect method can produce inaccuracies, and single-point measurements lead to an inaccurate hypertension diagnosis in 30% of patients. While intraarterial lines can be used […]
Advanced Wireless Neonatal Body Monitors to Improve Outcomes
Babies that end up in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) are monitored via a complex collection of sensors, each of which has a wire connected to a patient monitor. While necessary, all this technology makes it difficult for parents to bond with their children and for clinicians to […]