CPAP machines adapted for use in Covid19?

[donkeypoofed]

I recently heard that a company in EU has been adapting their CPAP's as ventilators - has anybody else here heard anything? I have a CPAP and it would be nice to know if it can be used for this.

Isn't this an intriguing idea?!

[RhodeIslandOne]

1. May not be able to be jerry rigged at home

From what I understand CPAP machines do just enough to keep your airways open in your nose and throat. Not your lungs.

My brother has one so it's something we've talked about. I suppose it would still have some benefit if you got sick with minor symptoms.

[Cattledog]

2. They can spread Covid-19

The American Society of Anesthesiologists issued guidance on Feb. 23 discouraging CPAP use in COVID-19 patients — advice largely informed by experience with the SARS epidemic in 2003. Studies dating to 2003 suggest that such devices can pump viruses into the air, potentially increasing the spread of a contagious disease.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/27/822211604/cpap-machines-were-seen-as-ventilator-alternatives-but-could-spread-covid-19

[Throck]

4. It seems they're discussing a stock unaltered machine.

Installing an appropriate HEPA air filter on the air inlet would do the trick. The bonus would be to get an infusion of oxygen.
Where are all the MIT CalTech biomedical engineers? The outside the box people?

[BrightKnight]

9. Off the shelf CPAP, APAP, BiPAP machine support oxygen.

Some patients need it.

[Bev54]

3. I saw this on BBC

They have to have an adapter which is easily and quickly made but I don't think it is a DIY project.

[Throck]

5. We have 3D printers.

Tons of world wide personal printers and 3D printer labs on college campuses.

How did we ever win WWII?

[Appaloosa2285]

6. F1 Racing Team partners with University College London to modify CPAP for C-19

Mercedes F1 team helps create breathing aid for coronavirus patients
https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/28969505/mercedes-f1-team-helps-create-breathing-aid-coronavirus-patients

In the space of just 10 days, University College London (UCL) and the Mercedes' Formula One engine department were able to reverse engineer a breathing aid so that it can be rapidly produced to treat coronavirus patients.

Since March 18, Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP), which supplies engines to the Mercedes F1 team, Racing Point and Williams, has been working with UCL to help scale up the production of CPAP machines. Starting by disassembling an off-patent device, the team at UCL managed to reverse engineer the design in less than 100 hours so that it is better suited for rapid mass production.

CPAP machines have been used extensively in hospitals in Italy and China to help COVID-19 patients with serious lung infections to breathe more easily, when oxygen alone is insufficient. They work by pushing an air-oxygen mix into the mouth and nose at a continuous rate, keeping airways open and increasing the amount of oxygen entering the lungs.

Reports from Italy indicate that approximately 50 percent of patients given CPAP have avoided the need for invasive mechanical ventilation, which delivers breaths directly into the lungs but requires heavy sedation and connection to a tube placed into the patient's trachea.

[Eliot Rosewater]

11. If anybody can come up with something it could be these geniuses.

Their expertise is amazing.

[getagrip_already]

7. there are youtube vids describing this...

They combine an oxygen concentrator with either a cpap or bipap to provide a respirator that can be used if you still have the ability to breath independently.

The "secret" codes to reprogram the cpap for more appropriate pressures are available from the manufacturers websites.

This is not a replacement for a intubation tube with ventilator, but if you have a walking pneumonia and need some help when a hospital won't admit you, it "looks" like a very viable option.

It should not be a substitute for hospital care. It could save a life if you are issued a die at home order and don't have the most acute symptoms, but are still in danger without some treatment.

Note: I'm not a doctor. I'm not giving medical advice. But this is what I've seen built.

[LAS14]

8. I read the OP and all the replies before I realized the word wasn't cRap.. :-)

[TheBlackAdder]

10. How about nebulizers, can they be retrofitted?

[broiles]

12. When my husband was hospitalized in mid-March he took his C Pap.

They adapted it for oxygen which was used instead of a ventilator.

[Totally Tunsie]

13. The U. of Rhode Isand is converting CPAP and BiPAP machines into ventilators

for use In hospitals.

Were you asking for personal use or to donate the machine?

https://www.uri.edu/features/ventilator-project/

URI researchers are joining designers, doctors, and technologists statewide to collect and refurbish sleep apnea machines for use in hospitals.

Tao Wei, an associate professor of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering, is working with VentilatorProject.Org, the Rhode Island Commerce Corp., the Rhode Island Department of Health, fire stations, and hospitals, among others, to collect and refurbish CPAP and BiPAP machines, used in treating sleep apnea patients. Named for the method by which they deliver pressurized air to the patient’s airways, the machines deliver positive airway pressure.

You can help by bringing an old or unused sleep apnea machine to a local donation center.
How to Donate
The goal is to collect, vet, and document innovative uses of these machines in the care of hospitalized COVID-19 patients without exposing health care workers to the aerosolized virus.

Wei said URI engineers and engineering students have the expertise to process these machines.

Organizers are asking people with unused machines to bring them to their nearest designated fire station. The machines will then be brought to URI, where a group of engineers, Ph.D. students, and other University volunteers 100-members strong will work on them in the Memorial Union Ballroom, which has been turned into a processing space. The team will sanitize, test, document, and refurbish the machines.