Clinical Evaluation of Ventilador Innovation Product in Colombia in the SARS COVID 19 Pandemic, Unisabana Herons.

Clinical Evaluation of Ventilator Innovation Product in Colombia in the SARS Pandemic Covid 19, Unisabana Herons - A Cohort Study - Phase 1

The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the Unisabana-Herons invasive mechanical ventilator designed to provide the basic ventilatory support necessary to preserve the life of patients with respiratory failure and indication of mechanical ventilation, especially for those who suffer from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) when conventional commercial invasive ventilators are not available in the context of the health emergency due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Unisabana-Herons ventilator allows to precisely configure the respiratory rate, tidal volume (or inspired air volume), inspiratory time, the inspiration: expiration ratio, the positive pressure at the end of expiration (PEEP), the inspired fraction of oxygen and inspiratory air flow, parameters that allow managing the respiratory failure associated with COVID-19. The ventilator also monitors peak inspiratory pressures (PIP), mean, PEEP, plateau, and graphs in real time the pressure-time, volume-time, flow-time curves, which allows detecting when one of these is at levels dangerous to induce ventilator trauma (barotrauma and volutrauma) and thus ensure effective and safe ventilation, so as to avoid ventilator-induced lung injury.

The Unisabana-Herons ventilator is an invasive mechanical ventilator that works on the same principles of invasive positive pressure mechanical ventilators that have existed for 80 years. Although the effectiveness of ventilatory assistance in saving human lives was known since biblical times, the first mechanical ventilators only appeared in 1800 and it was in 1900 when the first positive pressure ventilators were manufactured, which have a turning point in 1940 as a result of the polio epidemic, when invasive positive pressure mechanical ventilators were developed that could be used massively and have evolved to current models. These positive pressure fans completely replaced the first negative pressure models, have abundant support in the scientific literature, and are the most commonly used today.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in Colombia, the University of La Sabana, a multidisciplinary team in order to find solutions to deal with the disease, and its first project, consisted in the design and manufacture of an invasive mechanical ventilator (Ventilator Unisabana-Herons) able to supply the basic ventilatory needs of the patient with severe respiratory failure due to COVID-19 at the time when the installed capacity of classic commercial mechanical ventilators is exhausted. The Unisabana-Herons ventilator was built based on those recommended by INVIMA, the MHRA (UK Medicines and Devices Regulatory Agency) and the FDA, to provide efficient and safe volume controlled ventilation to patients with indications. of mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure according to the ventilatory modes already affected that have strong scientific evidence.

This study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness, usability and safety of the Unisabana-Herons ventilator for the management of patients with an indication for invasive mechanical ventilatory support, admitted to level III and IV university hospitals with Intensive Care services enabled through a cohort study of 5 patients with a 24-hour follow-up.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients older than 18 years and younger than 70 years with indication of volume-controlled mechanical ventilation for more than 24 hours.
• Patients with acute respiratory failure (PaO2 / FiO2 <300) requiring volume-controlled mechanical ventilation. These patients may or may not have COVID-19 (at the current time of the epidemic, it is assumed that every patient with an indication for mechanical ventilation is a possible case of COVID-19).
• Postoperative patients who require ventilatory support and are expected to need it for more than 24 hours.
• Patients with traumatic brain injury and indication of mechanical ventilatory support with an expected duration greater than 24 hours
• Patients with acute intoxication and respiratory depression and indication of mechanical ventilatory support with an expected duration greater than 24 hours

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant women
• Patients with hypotension MAP <65 mmHg
• Patients with PaO2 / FiO2 <100
• Cerebral edema in cerebral protection and / or suspected endocranial hypertension
• SOFA >9
• For those patients who are already receiving mechanical ventilation, the presence of one or more of the following criteria: PEEP> 8 cmH2O, plateau pressure> 30 cm H2O or FiO2> 70%
• COVID-19 confirmed by RT-PCR.