Aquarium pump + Nalgene bottle = CPAP!

[NapsZ]

Hi guys,

Just read an interesting article about a very simple CPAP device that can be used to treat babies in developing countries:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/health/27breathe.html

This is a "bubble CPAP" device. The pressure regulator is just a Nalgene bottle full of water. The mask interface is attached to a tube that bubbles through the water, so the pressure is just set by the number of cm of water in the bottle.
Apparently the vibrations of the bubbles also help breathing.

So you know, if you ever get stranded on an island and need to make your own CPAP device ..

[archangle]

Great, now ResMed will be threatening to sue anyone who sells Nalgene bottles without a prescription and the price will go to $100 a bottle.

[moresleep]

I'm confused. Ok, so this aquarium pump+bottle device is a lot cheaper than a $60,000 hospital respirator set in the "Cpap mode." But, why not use an off-the-shelf $179 Cpap machine, such as the Zzz-PAP 'Silent Traveler', sold for that price by Cpap.com? A lot more reliable and versatile than the aquarium pump solution...

[NapsZ]

Hmm I did some more Googling and found that "bubble CPAP" is supposed to have advantages over regular CPAP for newborns. The argument is that the pressure vibrations from the bubbles makes gas exchange easier for the infant's lungs.

So Fisher and Paykel has made a commercial version of the bubble CPAP setup --

http://www.fphcare.com/userfiles/file/N ... 042551.pdf

But that's a good point. CPAP is already a pretty cheap technology, just an air pump + pressure regulator ..

[Alshain]

As a skilled aquarist, I can't say I recommend trying this at home. In fact I don't recommend using aquarium air pumps in your aquarium. They are notorious for creating a vacuum in a power loss, sucking in water, and then catching on fire. They do make check valves, but your still putting your house and life against a $0.50 piece of plastic.

Plus, the aquascaper in me says they are tacky and gimmicky and detract from the appearance of the tank.

[moresleep]

Well, let's just hope this grad student doesn't succeed in finding some hospital in Africa willing to let her kill babies testing her "invention."

Jocelyn Brown, a bioengineering student at Rice University, has invented an infants’ “bubble CPAP” machine driven by two aquarium pumps like those found in home fish tanks. It’s the size of a shoebox, and its pressure regulator is a standard Nalgene water bottle with a plastic straw. The amount of pressure in the cannula, which delivers air or oxygen to the baby’s nose, is determined by the depth of the water in the bottle that the air must bubble through. As water is poured out, the pressure drops.

“To do this at a hospital, you’d take a $60,000 ventilator and set it to CPAP mode,” said Z. Maria Oden, Ms. Brown’s professor. “What Jocelyn has built costs $150 in off-the-shelf components.”

Ms. Brown is seeking a hospital in Africa where she can test her invention. She also needs financing for the research, and approval from ethics boards at the hospital and her university.

[Goofproof]

In that case my saying that it would keep them from swallowing flys may be considered to be out of line. Not to be undone, causing a fish kill due to lack of O2 when you take his pump. Jim

[deltadave]

That entire article belongs on (is) The Dung Barge.

Bubble CPAP has been around for ~40 years. It was "invented" by Jen-Tien Wung, MD over at Columbia (in the City).

Bubble CPAP requires a heater - humidifier and supplemental oxygen (OK, what they got is "better than nothing").

If you wanted to use a high-end ventilator for Neonatal CPAP, they cost $23,000. Point being that while that's still a lot of $$$, they're LSsOS.

And $150 is way too much for DIY nCPAP anyway. Put in a central system (an old Craftsman air compressor) and you can do a SL of babies (you only need ~6 LPM flow per kid).

[deltadave]

BTW, if you want to use aquarium pumps to drive adult CPAP units, you'd need about 12 of them:

The Whisper 60 does 2.6 liters per minute, and the Whisper 100 handles 3.3 per minute.

Which is why that person needed 2 pumps boy I can't believe how stupid that whole thing is