Abstract
The unprecedented global COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled an explosion of attempts to manufacture open-source ventilators, diagnostic equipment, and personal protective equipment by both individuals and companies. The initial and well-publicised success of Insinnova’s 3D printed venturi ventilator valve to boost supply, as well as global panic regarding the availability of intensive care unit ventilators, has led the open-source community to focus on this area when considering projects. However, patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome such as that caused by COVID-19 are notoriously difficult to ventilate, with clinical experience suggesting that even slight adjustments in ventilator pressures or modes can lead to a dramatic deterioration in already profoundly unstable patients. In the following chapter, we review strategies for the production of open-source and 3D printed solutions to critical care technology in response to the pandemic. We focus on open-source ventilators in this chapter, and discuss the positive and negative implications of open-source ventilator designs on clinical management of patients, as well as the highly discouraging prospect of ventilator splitting for management of multiple patients with a single ventilator. We discuss possible further opportunities in critical care technology for makers to explore, including haemofiltration devices, and infusion pumps.
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Abbreviations
- FDM:
-
Fused Deposition Modelling
- SLA:
-
Stereolithography
- ABS:
-
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
- PLA:
-
Polylactic Acid
- BVM:
-
Bag Valve Mask
- PEEP:
-
Positive End-Expiratory Pressure
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Frazer, J.S. (2022). Effectiveness of 3D Printing and Open-Source Technologies for Development of Ventilators, and Other Critical Care Technology in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Sandhu, K., Singh, S., Prakash, C., Sharma, N.R., Subburaj, K. (eds) Emerging Applications of 3D Printing During CoVID 19 Pandemic. Lecture Notes in Bioengineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6703-6_3
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