NASA develops special 'high-pressure ventilator' in just 37 days for COVID-19 patients

In a major feat, scientists at US national ncy NASA have developed a new easy-to-build ‘high-pressure ventilator’ in a matter of just 37 which is expected to help save a lot of lives as world struggles against coronavirus pandemic. 

According to press te on NASA website, device is called VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Techlogy Accessible Locally) and it passed a critical test this week at Ichan School of Medicine in New York. decoy is designed to treat patients with milder symptoms, reby keeping country’s limited supply of traditional ventilators available for patients with more severe COVID-19 symptoms. 

'Duty to share expertise'

Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Director Michael Watkins said, “We specialize in craft, t medical-device manufacturing. But excellent engineering, rigorous testing and rapid prototyping are some of our specialties. When people at JPL realized y might have what it takes to support medical community and broader community, y felt it was ir duty to share ir ingenuity, expertise and drive”. 

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NASA ‘very pleased’ with result of testing

ncy is w seeking FDA approval for device via an emergency use authorisation, which is a fast-track approval process developed for crisis situations that takes just days rar than years.

Matw Levin, Associate Professor at Icahn School of Medicine, said that team feels confident that VITAL will be able to safely ventilate patients suffering from deadly disease in US and throughout world. He furr also added that team is also ‘very pleased’ with result of testing which was performed in ‘high fidelity human simulation lab’. 

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Furr explaining device, team at NASA detailed that VITAL can be built faster and maintained more easily than a traditional ventilator. It is also composed of far fewer parts, many of which are currently available to potential manufacturers through existing supply chains.

Moreover, with flexible design, device can also be modified for use in field hospitals being set up in convention centres, hotels and or high-capacity facilities across globe. 

new device, like all ventilators, will require patients to be sedated and an oxygen tube inserted into ir airway to brea. NASA also informed that VITAL would t replace current hospital ventilators as device is intended to last only three to four months and is specifically tailored to needs of COVID-19 patients.

intention with device, according to NASA, is to decrease likelihood patients get to that advanced st of disease where y require advance ventilator assistance. 

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