Avaliação de desempenho de circuito proposto para ventilação mecânica compartilhada

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by a new type of coronavirus, originated in the Chinese province of Hubei quickly spread around the world reaching all continents. This expansion meant that countries had to adapt their hospital structures in record time to serve those patients who developed the most severe form of the disease. The search for alternatives raised the discussion about the ventilators sharing a fundamental device in the patient’s treatment. The aim of this work was to evaluate the behavior of a proposed parallel ventilation circuit in a simulated and controlled situation, based on the real one caused by COVID-19. Artificial lungs connected in parallel to a mechanical ventilator were used and different situations of resistance and compliance were tested. The results showed that the equipment used is robust enough to be able to feed two patients, even in extreme cases, but there are no efficient ways to control it to ensure that the physical characteristics of one lung do not influence the other, generating risks for the patient.