Mumbai doctor in US makes manual ventilator safer to use – ET HealthWorld


Mumbai doctor in US makes manual ventilator safer to use
Mumbai: A Mumbai-born doctor has bagged $1-million funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop his innovation that makes manual ventilator safer for patients. Dr Prathamesh Prabhudesai, a KEM Hospital alumnus at present based in New York, has already been contacted by the US Air Force for his “precise” ventilator.

Prabhudesai’s ventilator falls in the category of ‘bag valve mask’ or “self-inflating bag” that is held in hand by a doctor, nurse or, at times, a relative to help patients unable to breathe well. Studies have, however, shown that providers are unable to deliver safe breaths most of the time, resulting in life-threatening complications. “Those operating the bag ventilator sometimes press too hard or too fast,” said the 28-year-old doctor, who grew up in Goregaon and completed MBBS from KEM Hospital, Parel.

US studies have shown that 13.1 million resuscitator bags are used in the US annually, but 81% of the time these bags are used improperly and cause life-threatening complications that have a mortality rate of up to 40%.

Prabhudesai picked up bag valve safety as his thesis subject for his post-graduate studies in the US; he and his classmate set up an intuitive automatic pressure and flow regulation device to resuscitators. Called Sotair, it ensures that a steady “flow, pressure and tidal volume of breaths” are delivered to a patient, and can be used by people with minimum training.

While awarding the $1 million award, the NSF noted that the project will help bridge the gap between manual and mechanical ventilation, aiding first responders in the Covid-19 pandemic. “During the peak of Covid pandemic, this technology was evaluated in a pre-clinical randomised controlled crossover trial and was published in the peer-reviewed British Medical Journal, Innovation,” said Dr Prabhudesai.

The study found that the device could replace mechanical ventilators without withholding care and rationing resources during crises.

“Early on, I realised that technology was changing at a very rapid rate, but healthcare as a sector was mostly unaffected. The change in healthcare is much slower,” he told TOI in a telephonic conversation. He said advancements in engineering could address problems associated with low doctor-patient ratio, access and training. Hence, as a medical student in KEM Hospital’s medical college, he started visiting BETiC Lab at IIT, Powai, in his free time. “I then joined the biomedical engineering program at Georgia Tech,” he said.

He’s awaiting US Food & Drug Administration’s nod for his device. “The idea is to improve quality of care with innovation,” he said.

“In India, we’re so busy focusing on day-to-day work that we miss long-term trends and opportunities,” he said. “In the US, it’s common for medical students to identify high-impact problems, invent medical devices and commercialise them. Most of the devices replace a doctor’s time-consuming tasks or help treat chronic diseases. In last 10 years, many ecosystems have spun off in the US and India like Stanford India Biodesign at AIIMS and Betic lab at IIT Bombay,” he said.





Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *