PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Salah Boussen AU - Marc Gainnier AU - Pierre Michelet TI - Evaluation of ventilators used during transport of critically ill patients — a bench study AID - 10.4187/respcare.02144 DP - 2013 Apr 16 TA - Respiratory Care PG - respcare.02144 4099 - http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/early/2013/04/16/respcare.02144.short 4100 - http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/early/2013/04/16/respcare.02144.full AB - The aim of this study was to evaluate the most recent transport ventilators operational capacities regarding volume delivery in controlled mode, trigger function and the quality of pressurization in pressure support mode Methods: Eight recent transport ventilators were included in a bench study in order to evaluate: 1) Their accuracy to deliver a set tidal volume (VT) under normal resistance and compliance conditions (A), ARDS conditions (B) and obstructive conditions (C). 2) The performance of the triggering system assessed by the measure of the decrease in pressure (ΔP, cmH20) and the time delay (Δt, ms) required to open the inspiratory valve. 3) The quality of pressurization obtained by computing the integral of the pressure-time curve for the first 300 and 500 milliseconds after the onset of inspiration. Results: For the targeted tidal volumes of 300, 500 and 800 ml, the errors ranged from -3% to 48%, -7% to 18%, -5% to 25% respectively in condition A, -4 % to 27%, -2% to 36%, -3% to 35% in ARDS condition B and (-4% to 53%), (-6% to 35%), (-30% to 28%) in obstructive condition C (p<0.01). In PSV mode, pressure drop was (0.5 to 1.7 cmH20), trigger delay (68 ms to 198 ms), pressurization capabilities PTP300 ranged from -12 to 44% and PTP500 from 5.5% to 66% of ideal pressurization (p<0.01). Conclusion: Differences in performances were important between the ventilators tested. The most recent turbine ventilators outperformed the pneumatic transport ventilators. The best performers among turbine ventilators proved comparable to modern ICU ventilators.