A Bench Evaluation of Eight Home-Care Ventilators

The growing number of patients on home mechanical ventilation has driven considerable progress in the performance and functionality of ventilators, with features comparable with those used in the ICU. However, a publication gap exists in the evaluation and comparison of their performance and each ventilator choice depends on machine characteristics defined by manufacturers. We bench tested 8 home-care ventilators that are currently available: Monnal T50, EOVE EO-150, Puritan Bennet 560, Weinmann, PrismaVent 50, Trilogy Evo, Astral 150, and Vivo 60 by using an active lung model. These devices were tested under 18 experimental conditions that combined 3 variables: respiratory mechanics, ventilatory mode, and inspiratory muscle effort. The volume delivered, trigger response, pressurization capacity, and synchronization were analyzed. Significant differences were observed in the performance among the devices. Decreased inspiratory muscle effort caused changes in the delivered volume, which worsened the response-to-trigger time, pressurization capacity, and synchronization. Increased pressure support favored the development of asynchronies. All the ventilators developed asynchronies under at least 1 set of conditions, but the EOVE and Trilogy Evo ventilators showed the fewest asynchronies during the experimental conditions studied. Great variability in terms of technical performance was observed among the 8 home-care ventilators analyzed. Asynchronies became a major issue when home mechanical ventilation was used under higher pressure-support values and lower muscle efforts. Our results may prove to be useful in helping choose the best suited machine based on a patient's clinical therapy needs.