When You Need a Machine for Breathing, You’d Better Have Accurate Sensors

Medical ventilation technology has come far since the original iron lung was first used more than 90 years ago. Using negative pressure to ventilate, the patient was inserted into an airtight chamber looking like a prop from a Sci-Fi movie. The iron lung mimicked the physiological act of breathing. Pumps controlling airflow periodically increased and decreased air pressure within the chamber and thus indirectly in the patient’s chest. Lungs were inflated by applying negative pressure to the patient’s body and then when the pressure inside the chamber increased, it compressed the patient’s chest and forced them to exhale. But the machines were bulky and restricted a patient’s ability to move. So, when positive pressure ventilators were developed in the 1950s, the technology caught on. Patients were not restricted, and caregivers could better examine them. Modern ventilators use either a tracheal tube or mask to apply positive pressure and inflate the lung during inspiration.