A Mechanical Intermittent Abdominal Pressure Ventilator: A Case Report

Pneumatically driven intermittent abdominal pressure ventilators (IAPVs) were a popular means of daytime ventilatory support until the late 1960's paradigm shift to invasive (tracheostomy) mechanical ventilation (TMV). However, although many patients still use IAPVs, currently available turbine-driven portable home care ventilators are not powerful enough to always successfully operate them. We describe a new mechanically driven IAPV operated by a 1 lb. motor that provided a depth of abdominal compression of almost 2 inches in 1.05 to 1.13 seconds to normalize alveolar ventilation for a 72-year-old post-polio survivor. It increased her autonomous 200 to 320 ml tidal volumes by over 300 ml to normalize her respiratory rate, relieve her dyspnea, and to maintain normal oxyhemoglobin saturation levels throughout daytime hours over a 9-month period of continuous ventilatory support. Corresponding author: John R. Bach MD, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Behavioral Health Sciences Building F1559, 183 South Orange Ave, Newark, NJ 07103. Phone: 973-972-2850; Fax: 973-972-5725; Email address: bachjr@njms.rutgers.edu Dr. John Bach, Dr. Michael Chiou, and Mr. Nikhil Potpally have no conflict of interest or financial interest in any of the issues or devices discussed in this paper. Mr. Mark Radbourne conceived and developed the mechanical intermittent abdominal pressure ventilator reported in this paper without any external support. Copyright © 2019 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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