Dr. Francesco Donatelli, Associate Professor heading the Department of Anesthesia at Montreal General Hospital, was trying to equip the hospital in the country's leading French-speaking metropolis with an innovative model of CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) respirators similar to those produced by the DIMAR company and those marketed under the StarMed brand by Intersurgical and used in several Italian hospitals to treat patients with COVID-19 but also patients with various more or less acute respiratory conditions.
The respirator, made of semi-rigid and lightweight plastic and shaped like a diving suit, provides non-invasive ventilation that allows patients to talk, listen, drink and breathe without having to remove the apparatus or undergo intubation, thus avoiding, intensive care unit hospitalization, reserved instead for the most' severe cases.
Due to the high demand for the device coupled with bans on European manufacturers from exporting equipment, drugs and PLRs deemed strategic to the fight against COVID-19 outside the EU and individual countries, the availability' of the same in Canada was extremely scarce, to the point that it prevented its actual use at the Montreal hospital and elsewhere in Canada.
Prof. Donatelli and other colleagues on his team at Montreal General Hospital, including Dr. Gabriele Bandini, who like Donatelli trained in Italy, decided to try to make a Canadian version of the respirator. They then got in touch with a local firm, Dehumidified Air Solutions, which, through reverse-engineering of overseas CPAP respirators, produced drawings and preliminary prototypes. Later, Avicam Technologies, a medical device manufacturer in London, Ontario made prototypes, more elaborate, for mass production, using 3D printing technologies. The Avicam Technologies respirators are still under review and approval by federal and provincial health authorities and will soon be added to the COVID-10 arsenal at Montreal General Hospital and other Canadian hospitals.
Source: CTV News
The respirator, made of semi-rigid and lightweight plastic and shaped like a diving suit, provides non-invasive ventilation that allows patients to talk, listen, drink and breathe without having to remove the apparatus or undergo intubation, thus avoiding, intensive care unit hospitalization, reserved instead for the most' severe cases.
Due to the high demand for the device coupled with bans on European manufacturers from exporting equipment, drugs and PLRs deemed strategic to the fight against COVID-19 outside the EU and individual countries, the availability' of the same in Canada was extremely scarce, to the point that it prevented its actual use at the Montreal hospital and elsewhere in Canada.
Prof. Donatelli and other colleagues on his team at Montreal General Hospital, including Dr. Gabriele Bandini, who like Donatelli trained in Italy, decided to try to make a Canadian version of the respirator. They then got in touch with a local firm, Dehumidified Air Solutions, which, through reverse-engineering of overseas CPAP respirators, produced drawings and preliminary prototypes. Later, Avicam Technologies, a medical device manufacturer in London, Ontario made prototypes, more elaborate, for mass production, using 3D printing technologies. The Avicam Technologies respirators are still under review and approval by federal and provincial health authorities and will soon be added to the COVID-10 arsenal at Montreal General Hospital and other Canadian hospitals.
Source: CTV News