Non-invasive Pressure Support Ventilator for Patients with Respiratory Failure in Under Resourced Regions

Most hospitals and patients in low/middle-income countries (LMICs) cannot afford the current pricing schedules of commercial mechanical ventilators. This has resulted in a marked restriction of their availability and left patients with respiratory failure with restricted access to this life-saving treatment. Here, we present and discuss a novel, especially designed low-cost and easy-to-build non-invasive bilevel pressure ventilator that should reduce the serious shortage of ventilators in LMICs. The ventilator is built using off-the-shelf components available via e-commerce and is based on a high-pressure blower, two pressure transducers and an Arduino Nano controller with a digital display (total retail cost < 75 US$). The designed ventilator allows independent setting of inspiratory and expiratory pressures up to 20 and 10 cmH₂O, respectively, selectable cycling threshold and a back-up rescue frequency (assisted-controlled ventilation mode). All construction details are provided following an open-source hardware and code approach for free replication. This non-invasive ventilator, with equivalent performance to high-quality commercial devices, could facilitate the application of this life-saving therapy to LMIC patients who otherwise would not be treated.