The eSpiro Ventilator: An Open-Source Response to a Worldwide Pandemic.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To address the issue of ventilator shortages, our group (eSpiro Network) developed a freely replicable, open-source hardware ventilator. DESIGN: We performed a bench study. SETTING: Dedicated research room as part of an ICU affiliated to a university hospital. SUBJECTS: We set the lung model with three conditions of resistance and linear compliance for mimicking different respiratory mechanics of representative intensive care unit (ICU) patients. INTERVENTIONS: The performance of the device was tested using the ASL5000 lung model. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Twenty-seven conditions were tested. All the measurements fell within the ±10% limits for the tidal volume (VT). The volume error was influenced by the mechanical condition (p = 5.9 × 10-15) and the PEEP level (P = 1.1 × 10-12) but the clinical significance of this finding is likely meaningless (maximum -34 mL in the error). The PEEP error was not influenced by the mechanical condition (p = 0.25). Our experimental results demonstrate that the eSpiro ventilator is reliable to deliver VT and PEEP accurately in various respiratory mechanics conditions. CONCLUSIONS: We report a low-cost, easy-to-build ventilator, which is reliable to deliver VT and PEEP in passive invasive mechanical ventilation.