Gur Ilan, Eisenkraft Arik, Bar-Yishay Ephraim
Bikurofe Emergency Care Services, 90 Yigal Allon Street, Tel Aviv 6789130, Israel.
Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Division, Israeli Ministry of Defense, 23 Kaplan Street, Hakirya, Tel Aviv 61909, Israel.
Mil Med. 2017 Mar;182(3):e1801-e1805. doi: 10.7205/MILMED-D-16-00275.
Mobile RTX (MRTX), a portable light-weighted ventilator, provides noninvasive respiratory support using biphasic extrathoracic cuirass-assisted ventilation. Despite the effectiveness of chemical-biological-radiological-nuclear (CBRN) gas masks, they cause respiratory loading as a result of added dead space and resistance. This prospective comparative pilot study was conducted to investigate the safety and efficacy of assisted ventilation provided by MRTX in healthy adult volunteers wearing CBRN gas masks at rest.
Cardiorespiratory parameters were monitored in 11 healthy adult volunteers breathing spontaneously or with assisted ventilation provided by MRTX, freely or with the mask on. Comparisons were made by single-factor analysis of variance.
AV significantly increased minute ventilation (p < 0.001). MRTX increased minute ventilation by 6.4 L/min (mean, 95% confidence interval: 3.1, 9.8; p < 0.005) and by 4.7 L/min (1.8, 7.5; p < 0.01) during spontaneous breathing and with the mask on, respectively. Simultaneously, end-tidal carbon dioxide partial pressure decreased by 3.6 mmHg (2.2, 5.1; p < 0.001) and by 6.5 mmHg (3.8, 9.1; p < 0.001).
Biphasic extrathoracic cuirass assisted ventilation provided by MRTX is safe and effective in supporting adequate needs at rest even when wearing protective masks. MRTX should be further assessed as a possible adjunct to currently used field ventilation in CBRN scenarios.
