Everything You Need To Know About Ventilator

Hi friends!

I'm a Biomedical Engineer.

This is my first blog. And my future blogs will be related to Biomedical Engineering.

Let's start our journey with an important medical device called ventilator.

VENTILATOR

The ventilator is an important life saving equipment. Therefore it is important for every healthcare professional to know in detail  about ventilator. In this blog we are going to see important concepts about ventilator. Lets get into the topic.

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INTRODUCTION

The ventilator is a machine which is designed mechanically to move breathable air into and out of the lungs, to provide mechanism of breathing for a patient who is not able to breathe sufficiently.

CONCEPT OF VENTILATOR SYSTEM

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1. Inspiratory valve opens & expiratory valve closes. Here circuit pressure is greater than lung pressure. So gas is pushed into the lungs, as a result lung inflates.

Image courtesy: Wikimedia commons

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2. Expiratory valve opens & inspiratory valve closes.  Here circuit pressure drops below the pressure of lungs. So gas is pushed out of the lungs, as a result lung shrinks.

TYPES OF VENTILATOR

POSITIVE PRESSURE VENTILATOR

1. The positive pressure ventilator works by increasing the patients airway pressure through endotracheal tube.

2. Positive pressure allows the air to flow inside the airway until the ventilator air is terminated.

3. Then the pressure drops to 0 and elastic coil of lungs pushes the breathe out through passive exhalation.

NEGATIVE PRESSURE VENTILATOR

Example: Iron Lung

1. In negative pressure ventilator, Pressure inside the tank is mechanically withdrawn to create a vacuum inside the tank causing the expansion of lungs results in negative pressure inside the lungs and increases the flow of ambient air into the lungs.

2. Once the vacuum inside the tank is released, pressure inside the tank matches the ambient air pressure. 

3. The elastic coil of lung leads to passive exhalation.

HIGH FREQUENCY VENTILATOR

1. The high frequency ventilation is a form of mechanical ventilation which combines, high respiratory rates greater than 60 breathes per minute with tidal volume smaller than volume of dead space.

2. In high frequency ventilation, gas exchange is optimized by utilizing smaller tidal volumes with minimal alveolar stretch. 

Now I hope you have acquired some knowledge about ventilator.  We will discuss more about medical devices in future blogs.

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