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NASA engineers have designed a new low-cost, high-pressure ventilator designed to treat patients with coronavirus.
The device, called VITAL (Locally Accessible Ventilation Intervention Technology), passed a critical test on April 21 at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
The device is now under review for an emergency use authorization by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US space agency said.
VITAL is designed to treat patients with milder symptoms, thus keeping the nation’s limited supply of traditional ventilators available for patients with more severe symptoms of COVID-19.
The device can be built faster and maintained more easily than a traditional fan, and it comprises far fewer parts, making it more economical to produce, NASA said.
Developed by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, the device was designed to use parts currently available to potential manufacturers but not compete with the existing supply chain of currently manufactured fans.
“We specialize in spacecraft, not medical device manufacturing,” said JPL director Michael Watkins.
“But excellent engineering, rigorous testing, and rapid prototyping are some of our specialties. When the people at JPL realized that they might have what it takes to support the medical community and the community at large, they felt it was their duty to share their ingenuity, experience and drive, ”said Watkins.
Like all ventilators, VITAL requires that patients be sedated and that an oxygen tube be inserted into their airways to breathe.
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