CRISIS ventilator: A 3D printed option for ventilator surge in mass respiratory pandemics

S James El Haddi; Alex Brito; Xiao-Yue Han; Evan Fontaine; Whitney Menzel; Dennis Child; Michelle Kenny; Stephanie Nonas; Albert Chi

doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2022.02.064

CRISIS ventilator: A 3D printed option for ventilator surge in mass respiratory pandemics

Am J Surg. 2022 Jul;224(1 Pt B):569-575. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2022.02.064. Epub 2022 Mar 11.

Authors

S James El Haddi¹, Alex Brito², Xiao-Yue Han³, Evan Fontaine⁴, Whitney Menzel⁵, Dennis Child⁶, Michelle Kenny⁷, Stephanie Nonas⁸, Albert Chi⁹

Affiliations

¹ Oregon Health and Science University, Division of General Surgery, USA. Electronic address: elhaddi@ohsu.edu.
² Oregon Health and Science University, Division of Trauma, Acute Care, Critical Care, USA. Electronic address: britoa@ohsu.edu.
³ Oregon Health and Science University, Division of General Surgery, USA. Electronic address: hanxi@ohsu.edu.
⁴ Oregon Health and Science University, Division of Trauma, Acute Care, Critical Care, USA.
⁵ Oregon Health and Science University, Division of Trauma, Acute Care, Critical Care, USA. Electronic address: whitmenzel@gmail.com.
⁶ Oregon Health and Science University, Division of Respiratory Care, USA. Electronic address: childd@ohsu.edu.
⁷ Florida Atlantic University, Department of Emergency Medicine, USA. Electronic address: kennym@health.fau.edu.
⁸ Oregon Health and Science University, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, USA. Electronic address: nonas@ohsu.edu.
⁹ Oregon Health and Science University, Division of Trauma, Acute Care, Critical Care, USA. Electronic address: chia@ohsu.edu.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic revealed flaws in the stockpiling and distribution of ventilators. In this study, we assessed the durability, sterilizability, and performance of a 3D-printed ventilator.

Methods: SLS-printed devices were dropped from 1.83 m and autoclaved before evaluation on a COVID-19 simulated patient. The respiratory performance of an extrusion-printed device was studied using a variable compliance model. Ranges of sustainable respiratory rates were evaluated as a function of tidal volume.

Results: Autoclaving and dropping the device did not negatively impact minute ventilation or PIP for sustained ventilation. Equivalence was significant across all measures except for comparing the autoclaved and dropped with p = 0.06. Extrusion produced ventilators achieved minute ventilation ranging from 4.1 to 12.2 L/min for all simulated compliances; there was an inverse correlation between tidal volume and respiratory rate.

Conclusion: The CRISIS ventilator is a durable, sterilizable, and reusable 3D-printed ventilator using off-the-shelf materials which could be employed variety of adult lung diseases. Further in-vivo testing is needed.

Keywords: Additive manufacturing; Pandemic; Ventilator.

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19*
Humans
Pandemics*
Printing, Three-Dimensional
Respiratory Rate
Ventilators, Mechanical