What about a "Both Respirator"? [1] In the 1930s polio epidemic there was a shortage of "iron lung" respirators, which were expensive to produce. Edward Both invented a plywood version, which was cheap and easy to produce. A re-purposed car factory then churned them out by the thousand. Is a negative pressure ventilator relevant for COVID-19 treatment? (Any knowledgeable medicos here who can offer a critique?) If so,…
At a certain point, external oxygenation (heart-lung machine) may be more appropriate. But hyperbaric chamber, elevated supplemental oxygen, and repiratory assistance might be an approach.
Med student here - so I know some of the theory only. The most relevant "law" is Fick's Law of Diffusion ( https://d2jmvrsizmvf4x.cloudfront.net/CTU792sKR2evT2ezizQp_f... ). Doctors can increase diffusion by increasing the partial pressure of oxygen. In a diffuse infection a patient begins to lose both lung area (due to shunting) and the thickness of the diffusion barrier increases (due to inflammation). To help over…
It's too bad we can't put sick people in an airplane, put oxygen masks on them, shut the door, and pressurize the cabin. Like a hospital, but at the airport.
I'm confused by this comment and the replies- did you mean to say depressurize the cabin?
From the article: "We're talking about a device that we want to have available in the worst case conditions and strangely enough, COVID-19 is not the worst case envisioned," he said. Made me think. Perhaps in 3, or 5, or 20 years.... Maybe we'll be thankful that COVID-19 was sort of a "training wheels" pandemic... something that helped to prepare us for the even worse pandemics that are sure to follow. Deaths due to…
> for the even worse pandemics that are sure to follow This is the first world pandemic in a hundred year, why should it become common ?
> for the even worse pandemics that are sure to follow This is the first world pandemic in a hundred year, why should it become common ?
I think Climate change, population growth, travel, antimicrobial resistance are all good candidates in increasing the risk of this happening more often.
Everything else, yes, but climate change? I can't imagine how climate change can significantly affect probability of next pandemic.
I was going to say the same, there seems to be thread after thread about ventilators, but are they a golden ticket to good health ?
> but are they a golden ticket to good health No, building a ventilator is like building an engine because you need to go to the store - you're missing so much of the solution to the problem. I've also posted before [1] on why they are a terrible idea to waste time on "designing". That said, ventilators I believe are already a solved problem for COVID. We have tens of thousands in the strategic stockpile, and product…
I don't these stockpiles exist. At least the order by the German government seems only to be fulfilled by new production [2] and other governments might have to queue due to few manufacturers [3]. I don't know if in market forces and IP worked to our good here. I think current design challenges could at least channel random good ideas wrt ventilator designs. [1]
I think Climate change, population growth, travel, antimicrobial resistance are all good candidates in increasing the risk of this happening more often.
Everything else, yes, but climate change? I can't imagine how climate change can significantly affect probability of next pandemic.
My understanding is that's the hope for Chloroquine and the other drugs being rolled out en-masse this week. They have shown enough promise by various limited trials that we are rolling them out nation-wide to see if they actually do help reduce the severity of the virus. If they do, then less hospitalization, and less ICU / ventilator needs. If Chloroquine doesn't end up working, basically we need to find something…
There are enough people with fatty liver, etc that chloroquine can’t be a magic bullet
Hydroxychloroquine is what's actually mentioned in at least some of the stories. It is supposed to be much less hepatotoxic. Though the point that neither may work stands.
If you read enough news and Twitter, you will find some really heartbreaking descriptions of the folks on ventilators. For most, this is a Hail Mary attempt with only 50% survival rate. Many will have significant lung damage if they survive. We need more ventilators to be sure. But we desperately need to find ways to halt the progression of runaway lung inflammation that leads to needing a ventilator. Edit: this deve…
> For most, this is a Hail Mary attempt with only 50% survival rate.
Non Hail-Mary Ventilators have only a 30% survival rate at 1 year mark:
Incidentally, that's exactly why medical systems to not stockpile ventilators. Under reasonable condition, the number of ventilators closely mirrors the expected number of Hail Mary procedures done at a given time and some spare units.
Almost 800 of the 737 Max are just sitting around collecting dust. Not to mention all the grounded wide-body aircraft. Take out the seats, equip the cabin with ventilators, and when one outbreak gets under control, send the aircraft to the next outbreak zone. They even have their own generators lol.
Would give all those pilots something to do and I'm sure it couldn't hurt fuel prices.
If you read enough news and Twitter, you will find some really heartbreaking descriptions of the folks on ventilators. For most, this is a Hail Mary attempt with only 50% survival rate. Many will have significant lung damage if they survive. We need more ventilators to be sure. But we desperately need to find ways to halt the progression of runaway lung inflammation that leads to needing a ventilator. Edit: this deve…
> For most, this is a Hail Mary attempt with only 50% survival rate. Non Hail-Mary Ventilators have only a 30% survival rate at 1 year mark: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8404197 Incidentally, that's exactly why medical systems to not stockpile ventilators. Under reasonable condition, the number of ventilators closely mirrors the expected number of Hail Mary procedures done at a given time and some spare units.
The links I added in my edit suggests that using non-invasive, constant positive air pressure (C-PAP) with a closed mask could help certain patients from needing intubation and ICU as early (or at all). If this turns out to be the case, this might reduce the overload on the hospital system. They might be attempting it in Italy. Hopefully, it works.