Test of 20 similar intensive care ventilators in daily use conditions--evaluation of accuracy and performances.

Infrequent control, aging of components, may compromise the accuracy of ICU ventilators. In order to assess the reliability of ventilators during their clinical use, we bench tested a group of 20 CPU1 ventilators (Ohmeda) sampled at random in several ICU units. We found major leaks in 5 ventilators, attributable to the disposable tubings used in these systems. Mean error in expired tidal volume and corresponding standard deviation (precision) were greater than 100 ml in two. Positive end expiratory pressure measurement comprised a mean error higher than 2 cm H2O in 40% of the ventilators tested. The valve opening pressure threshold was correlated to the inspiratory flow (r = 0.81) contrary to the valve opening delay (average 138 +/- 40 ms). These two parameters did not correlate with the age of the ventilator. Our study addresses the need for periodic control of ventilator performance in order to minimize the risks of errors and malfunctions.