In this work we propose a chemical sensing system based on an array of 16 metal-oxide gas sensors that we combined with an external mechanical ventilator to simulate the biological respiration cycle.
There were some significant variations; some universities taught their student nurses how to manage a client/patient requiring external invasive ventilator support.
Moreover, breath-actuated jet nebulizers enable tidal volume control, as opposed to using driving gas external to the ventilator, which is a practice that should be avoided [19].
The system uses no external pump or ventilator, which could overload a baby's underdeveloped organs; instead, the baby's heart pumps blood through the umbilical cord into a low-resistance external oxygenator, which acts in place of a placenta in swapping out oxygen and carbon dioxide.
The ServoVentilator was controlled by a personal computer that emitted analog signals to the socket for external control of ventilator function [ 15, 16].
Before starting the protocol, the mechanical ventilation in volume-controlled mode was switched to airway pressure release ventilation (APRV), with settings adjusted to achieve the same minute ventilation, which allows for external control of the ventilator (Evita 4, Dräger AG, Lübeck, Germany).
Moreover, when results obtained with the built-in software of four commercial ventilators were compared with a ventilator-independent external software designed ad hoc for this purpose, the ventilator-independent external software estimated both VT and leaks more accurately, suggesting that the bias identified in the four commercial ventilators was attributable to the built-in software.
Decreasing resistance to expiratory flows includes pharmacologic treatment to overcome asthma and an effort to decrease the external resistance related to ventilator tubing.
The ventilator-independent external software slightly underestimated values of leakage with a difference of -0.38 ± 1.03 L/min with respect to the reference value used (p = ns).
