shortTitle	name	nameWithOwner	longTitle	languages	project-link	intended-use	made	made-independently	license	okh-manifest-version	date-updated	manifest-author	contributors	sub-parts
MIT Emergency Ventilator (E-Vent)	mit-emergency-ventilator	CombatCovid/mit-emergency-ventilator	MIT Emergency Ventilator (E-Vent) Project	EN ES KR description keywords longDescription A low-cost ventilator, based on the collective wisdom of many clinicians patient recovery critical care intensive care icu equipment emergency room helper treatment hospital operating room A ventilator is a machine that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. description keywords longDescription Un ventilador de bajo costo, basado en la sabiduría colectiva de muchos médicos. paciente recuperación Cuidado crítico cuidados intensivos icu equipo sala de emergencias ayudante tratamiento hospital sala de operaciones Un ventilador es una máquina que proporciona ventilación mecánica. moviendo aire respirable dentro y fuera de los pulmones, para entregar respiraciones a un paciente que es físicamente incapaz de respirar, o respirando insuficientemente. keywords description longDescription 환자 회복 중요한 치료 집중 치료 아이쿠 장비 응급실 돕는 사람 치료 병원 수술실 많은 임상의의 집단적 지혜에 기반한 저렴한 인공 호흡기 인공 호흡기는 기계적 환기를 제공하는 기계입니다 통기성 공기를 폐 안팎으로 이동시켜 호흡 신체적으로 숨을 쉴 수없는 환자에게 또는 호흡이 불충분합니다.	https://e-vent.mit.edu/	tbd	true	false	hardware undefined	1.0.0	2020-03-31	name affiliation MiT people MIT	undefined	undefined undefined

Title: MIT Emergency Ventilator (E-Vent) Project

References:

All the information compiled here is from the MIT Emergency Ventilator (E-Vent) Project

To download our repo: DOWNLOAD

This is the url of our repo : https://github.com/CombatCovid/mit-emergency-ventilator

Background & Need

We are one of several teams who recognized the challenges faced by Italian physicians, and are working to find a solution to the anticipated global lack of ventilators. In the US alone, the COVID-19 pandemic may cause ventilator shortages on the order of 300,000-700,000 units (CDC Pandemic Response Plans). These could present on a national scale within weeks, and are already being felt in certain areas. An increase in conventional ventilator production is very likely to fall short and with significant associated cost (paywall warning).

Almost every bed in a hospital has a manual resuscitator (Ambu-Bag) nearby, available in the event of a rapid response or code where healthcare workers maintain oxygenation by squeezing the bag. Automating this appears to be the simplest strategy that satisfies the need for low-cost mechanical ventilation, with the ability to be rapidly manufactured in large quantities. However, doing this safely is not trivial.

Use of a bag-valve mask (BVM) in emergency situations is not a new concept. A portable ventilator utilizing an ambu-bag was introduced in 2010 by a student team in the MIT class 2.75 Medical Device Design (original paper here and news story here), but did not move past the prototype stage. Around the same time, a team from Stanford developed a lower-cost ventilator for emergency stockpiles and the developing world. It looks similar to a modern ICU ventilator (Onebreath), but “production for US hospitals would start [in] about 11 months”, making it “a second wave solution” (MIT Tech Review Article). Last year, the AMBU® Bag concept was re-visited by two student teams, one from Rice university (here & here), and another Boston-based team who won MIT Sloan’s Healthcare prize (MIT News: Umbilizer). Other teams currently working on this challenge can be found linked on our “Additional Resources” page.

Key Research Question

We have launched an emergency research project with a team of MIT Engineers and American clinicians to address the question:

Is it possible to safely ventilate a COVID-19 patient by automatically actuating a manual resuscitator?

Our process in approaching this question is to first identify the minimum requirements for a low-cost ventilator, based on the collective wisdom of many clinicians, design against these requirements, conduct immediate testing, report the results, iterate and facilitate discussion.

Manual ventilation with an Ambu-bag is a short-term solution in a critical care environment, without any apparent clinical evidence regarding the safety of long-term use (days-weeks). There are multiple scenarios in which respiratory support could be needed: patients can be awake or asleep, sedated or sedated and paralyzed, breathing spontaneously, weaning off of a vent, etc. Furthermore, changing clinical presentations with ARDS require shifting minute ventilation (tidal volume x respiratory rate) to “lung-protective” strategies, which place patient’s at risk for things like auto-PEEP. Some of these situations are simpler than others, with the simplest being ventilating a sedated, paralyzed patient, and at a minimum a safe emergency ventilator could be used in such a situation to free-up a conventional ventilator.

Any solution should be utilized only in a healthcare setting with direct monitoring by a clinical professional. While it cannot replace an FDA-approved ICU ventilator, in terms of functionality, flexibility, and clinical efficacy, the MIT E-Vent is anticipated to have utility in helping free up existing supply or in life-or-death situations when there is no other option.

Further, any low-cost ventilator system must take great care regarding providing clinicians with the ability to closely control and monitor tidal volume, inspiratory pressure, bpm, and I/E ratio, and be able to provide additional support in the form of PEEP, PIP monitoring, filtration, and adaptation to individual patient parameters. We recognize, and would like to highlight for anyone seeking to manufacture a low-cost emergency ventilator, that failing to properly consider these factors can result in serious long-term injury or death.

Open Source Design

At the present time, we are producing four sets of material, which we will be releasing and updating on this site in an open-source fashion:

1. Minimum safe ventilator functionality based on clinical guidance
2. Reference hardware design for meeting minimum clinical requirements
3. Reference control strategies and electronics designs and supporting insights
4. Results from testing in animal models

We are releasing this material with the intent to provide those with the ability to make or manufacture ventilators, the tools needed to do so in a manner that seeks to ensure patient safety. Clinicians viewing this site can provide input and expertise and report on their efforts to help their patients.

As with any research to design to scale-up to manufacture, we anticipated that there will be many problems and it is our goal to provide this site as a tool to “close the loop” and receive feedback. We will also do our best to publish the most relevant pieces of information in the discussion forum for all to see.

We invite anyone who is interested to follow this work.