Expanding capacity of ventilators

As the pandemic swept across the nation in March, so did urgent questions about the virus’ potential strain on the healthcare system. Among top concerns was whether the nation’s hospitals had enough ventilators to provide breathing support to critically ill patients with the disease COVID-19, which mainly attacks the lungs.

U-M researchers have invented an individualized vent-splitter that may allow multiple patients to receive customized pressures while sharing a single ventilator while being treated for COVID-19. U-M has filed for patent protection on the technology, and a local start-up, MakeMedical LLC, has licensed the technology and developed it into the VentMI device.

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