title: A comparative evaluation of three neonatal ventilators.
abstract: The comparative reliability of three neonatal ventilators was evaluated using an infant model lung to simulate airway resistance and lung compliance. The ventilators tested were the Bourns BP200, the Healthdyne TI-11, and a positive-pressure ventilator called the PREEMIE (not commercially manufactured) used in several neonatal units in the Milwaukee area. The Bourns and Healthdyne ventilators generated similar airway and alveolar pressures while the PREEMIE produced alveolar, peak inspiratory, and positive end-expiratory pressures that exceeded the respective ventilator pressure settings by up to 11 cm H2O. The simple method described here should be generally useful for the evaluation of neonatal ventilator output.
mesh_terms: D000403:Airway Resistance; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008954:Models, Biological; D011175:Positive-Pressure Respiration; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000295:instrumentation*