Division of Anesthesia, Intensive Care, and Pain Management, Tel-Aviv Medical Center; Tel-Aviv University, 6 Weizmann Street, 6423906, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Department of Food Science, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
BMC Anesthesiol. 2021 Apr 14;21(1):115. doi: 10.1186/s12871-021-01310-z.
The current coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused unexpected pressure on medical supplies, interrupting supply chains and increasing prices. The supply of antiviral filters which form an essential part of the ventilator circuit have been affected by these issues. Three-dimensional (3D) printing may provide a solution to some of these issues.
We designed and tested 3D printed heat and moisture exchange (HME) and antiviral casing. For each casing we tested two different filter materials derived from a sediment water filter cartridge or 1.5-μm glass fiber filter paper. A polyurethane sponge was used for the HME. Each design was tested for circuit leak, circuit compliance, peak inspiratory pressure and casing integrity using methylene blue dye.
We designed, produced, and tested two different types of antiviral filters with six different internal configurations. Overall, we tested 10 modified filter designs and compared them with the original commercial filter. Except for the combination of 1.5-μm filter paper and 5 mm sponge peak inspiratory pressure and circuit compliance of the filters produced were within the operating limits of the ventilator. All In addition, all filters passed the dye test.
Our filter may be of particular importance to those working in low middle-income countries unable to compete with stronger economies. Our design relies on products available outside the healthcare supply chain, much of which can be purchased in grocery stores, hardware stores, or industrial and academic institutions. We hope that these HMEs and viral filters may be beneficial to clinicians who face critical supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
当前的 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行对医疗用品造成了意外的压力，中断了供应链并推高了价格。呼吸机回路中必不可少的抗病毒过滤器的供应受到了这些问题的影响。三维（3D）打印可能为解决其中一些问题提供了一种方法。
我们设计并测试了 3D 打印的热湿交换（HME）和抗病毒外壳。对于每个外壳，我们测试了两种不同的过滤材料，分别来自沉淀水过滤器或 1.5-μm 玻璃纤维滤纸。HME 使用聚氨酯海绵。我们使用亚甲蓝染料测试了每种设计的回路泄漏，回路顺应性，吸气峰压和外壳完整性。
我们设计，生产和测试了两种不同类型的抗病毒过滤器，具有六种不同的内部配置。总体而言，我们测试了 10 种改良的过滤器设计，并将其与原始商业过滤器进行了比较。除了 1.5-μm 滤纸和 5mm 海绵的组合外，产生的过滤器的吸气峰压和回路顺应性都在呼吸机的工作范围内。此外，所有过滤器都通过了染料测试。
我们的过滤器对于那些无法与强大经济体竞争的中低收入国家的工作人员可能特别重要。我们的设计依赖于医疗供应链之外的产品，其中大部分产品可以在杂货店，五金店或工业和学术机构购买。我们希望这些 HME 和病毒过滤器可以为在 COVID-19 大流行期间面临关键供应链问题的临床医生提供帮助。
