A Mechanical Intermittent Abdominal Pressure Ventilator.

Pneumatically driven intermittent abdominal pressure ventilators were a popular means of daytime ventilatory support until the late 1960s paradigm shift to invasive (tracheostomy) mechanical ventilation. However, although many patients still use intermittent abdominal pressure ventilators, currently available turbine-driven portable home care ventilators are not powerful enough to always successfully operate them. We describe a new mechanically driven intermittent abdominal pressure ventilator operated by a 1-pound motor that provided a depth of abdominal compression of almost 2 in in 1.