An Electronic Medical Device for Preventing and Improving the Assisted Ventilation of Intensive Care Unit Patients

ABSTRACT

The survival of patients submitted to Intensive Care Unit is often related to the mechanical ventilation, which makes up for serious respiratory insufficiencies but can also become a lethal health risk. To decrease these risks, the respiratory cycle has to be continuously monitored and a real-time suitable setting of the ventilator is required, in order to realize natural breathing similar conditions. In this paper we propose a microcontroller-based digital electronic device, designed and realized with reference to the most advanced and reliable electronic technologies, oriented to the monitoring of the respiratory cycle and the relevant ventilator setting. Moreover, the device allows the effective auscultation, the accurate processing and the detailed visualization (temporal and frequency graphs) of any lung sound. Then, it is suitable for the continuous real-time monitoring of breathing functions, resulting also very useful to diagnose respiratory pathologies.