The Vent Multiplexor is a patent-pending emergency co-ventilation device intended to provide individualized temporary rescue mechanical ventilation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Developed in collaboration with Yale-New Haven Hospital and granted Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA on April 15, 2020, the Vent Multiplexor has the potential to help reduce the clinical need for ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it permits the emergency sharing of ventilators between two patients who are not equally matched, by delivering individualized tidal volumes, while also providing critical validation data on the quality of patient matching using existing “T-connector” and similar ventilator splitting technologies, a potentially revolutionary paradigm shift in the delivery of pandemic emergency respiratory care.
Who we are
The Vent Multiplexor is an FDA Emergency Authorized and patent-pending co-ventilation device developed in Connecticut by Vent Multiplexor LLC, in collaboration with Yale New Haven Health. The Vent Multiplexor provides individualized temporary rescue mechanical ventilation until an additional ventilator is available to resume single mechanical ventilation or as soon as respiratory recovery is attained in either patient.
How does Vent Multiplexor work
The Vent Multiplexor allows for individualized therapy to be delivered to each patient during emergency dual patient ventilation. The Vent Multiplexor is designed using two Venturi tubes to measure flow and thus infer volume delivered in the closed ventilator circuit. Using two adjustment devices and by continuously measuring flow in the Venturi tubes, tidal volumes can be adjusted uniquely for each patient to equally or unequally split the ventilator output as desired by the clinician. As a result, the Vent Multiplexor helps obviate the need for precise patient size and disease state matching. Moreover, with careful implementation, the Vent Multiplexor preserves many of the crucial monitoring parameters that only a single critical care ventilator can currently provide. With the ongoing ventilator shortage across the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing questions concerning the efficacy of certain emergency ventilators being used in response to the crisis, the Vent Multiplexor has the potential to materially reduce clinical need for ventilators, as it permits sharing of critical care ventilators between two patients who are not equally matched, while maintaining the critical care standard of care. In addition, even when used in passive mode, without adjusting tidal volume, the Vent Multiplexor acts as a validation tool on the quality of patient matching when using existing splitter technologies like the Vesper for co-ventilation, a potentially revolutionary paradigm shift in emerging pandemic emergency respiratory care.
The Vent Multiplexor is manufactured using 3-D printing technology and requires little production lead time. Vent Multiplexor LLC anticipates that thousands of units will be made available for distribution as needed for emergency crisis care use during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information on the Vent Multiplexor, please contact Vent Multiplexor LLC at information@ventmultiplexor.com.
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“Having a device that allows you a little more flexibility makes it much easier to actually use it. Anything that reduces complexity and the amount of care provided by nursing, respiratory therapists, physicians, is a huge advantage in terms of delivering the care that we want.”
“The Vent Multiplexor will help us to maintain critical care capacity during the pandemic and make a real impact in the MICU.”
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Jonathon Siner, MD, Medical Director-Medical Intensive Care Unit for Yale New Haven Hospital and Associate Professor of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Yale School of Medicine
“Enhanced strategies for co-ventilation are a crucial component in contingency planning for emergency critical care as possible ventilator shortages emerge in health care systems. New technologies like the Vent Multiplexor are a critical part of the path forward as we work to save as many lives as possible.”
“We are able to adjust features on it that allow us to provide mechanical ventilation that meet the standard of care in medicine.”
Elaine Fajardo, MD, Medical Director of Respiratory Medicine and Assistant Professor at Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Yale School of Medicine
FDA Notice
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On April 1, 2020, in accordance with the Emergency Use Authorization (“EUA”) for the emergency use of medical devices, including alternative products used as medical devices, during the COVID-19 pandemic, issued by the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for the emergency use of ventilators, anesthesia gas machines modified for use as ventilators, and positive pressure breathing devices modified for use as ventilators (collectively referred to as “ventilators”), ventilator tubing connectors, and ventilator accessories, Vent Multiplexor LLC requested the addition of the Vent Multiplexor on the list of authorized products included on Appendix B of the EUA. On April 2, 2020, The FDA confirmed that the EUA request for the Vent Multiplexor was submitted to the Office of Health Technology 1 (OHT 1: Ophthalmic, Anesthesia, Respiratory, ENT & Dental Devices) for review. The FDA formally issued the EUA for the Vent Multiplexor on April 15, 2020.
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Please be advised, the Vent Multiplexor is not an FDA approved device, and its authorization will only last for the duration of the FDA’s declaration that circumstances exist to justify the granting of the emergency use authorization.