Briefing with journalists on the development of groundbreaking PMLV artificial lung ventilation

    The information about the development of the artificial lung ventilation PMLV, which pushes the limits of lung ventilation in critically ill patients, was provided at the briefing which was held in front of the Faculty of Medicine, UPJŠ on Thursday, April 2, 2020. The artificial lung ventilation PMLV was designed by a group of doctors and scientists for research in advanced methods of the artificial lung ventilation of the Faculty of Medicine, UPJŠ in cooperation with the developers from the Chirana-Medical, a joint-stock company Stará Turá. The advantage of the method is the more efficient oxygenation of severely damaged lungs by viral infections in a unique way of multi-level ventilation with varying pressure, volume, flow and time, which also protects the lungs from damage by artificial lung ventilation.

    The author of the method of multi-level programmed lung ventilation PMLV, which can help to save the lives of patients with severe pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, is an employee of the Faculty of Medicine, UPJŠ  and the East Slovak Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, a joint-stock company assoc.prof. Pavol Török, M.D., CSc. Until recently, the Chirana Aura lung ventilators were exported mainly to foreign hospitals but the company will start delivering these special lung ventilators to the Slovak market as a priority in connection with the threat of a new coronavirus. The latest lung ventilator model Chirana Aura has been manufactured by the company for about three years. Assoc. prof. Pavol Török, M.D., CSc came with an idea of its development about fifteen years ago because he was looking for ways to reduce the high mortality rate of patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

    “ARDS is an acute form of lung involvement with high patient mortality, which has been sometimes more than 50 percent. The problem is the ventilation of patients whose lungs are inhomogeneously ventilated. The conventional lung ventilators do not often adequately manage this task, so I began to think about how to improve ventilation for these patients. I designed the prototype of lung ventilator operated on a three-level gas exchange (variable flow, pressure, volume, and time) in collaboration with the Chirana Medical that we first tested on the physical model of the lungs – and it worked! Later, we started to work with a combination of three- and four-level devices, which were able to multiply reduce the mortality of patients suffering from ARDS. The effectivity of the device was also verified in the treatment of swine influenza in 2008-2009, where the use of this device significantly decreased mortality of patients and also of patients who suffering from SARS disease. The device worked more efficiently than a conventional ventilator and allowed a much better gas exchange of patients with non-homogeneous gas exchange in the lungs,” explains the author of the unique method of PMLV pulmonary ventilation assoc. prof. Pavol Török, M.D., CSc.

    According to assoc.prof. Jozef Firment, M.D., PhD. – the Head of the 1st Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, UPJŠ and Louis Pasteur University Hospital in Košice, the Chief Expert of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic for anesthesiology and intensive medicine, there is assumed a severe course associated with pneumonia and respiratory failure requiring connection to artificial lung ventilation in about one fifth of COVID-19 infected patients. The new type of PMLV pulmonary ventilation can be an invaluable tool in combating this disease.
    
    “We are currently at war with an invisible enemy, with the small size virus, which seriously damages human health and chooses as victims the lives of elderly and chronically ill patients who die largely from viral pneumonia. It is good news that we have effective helpers for a fight with the new disease and I am proud that the author of the concept of programmed multi-level ventilation PMLV is the employee of our Faculty of Medicine,” emphasizes the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, UPJŠ prof. Daniel Pella, M.D., PhD.

    The President of the Slovak Society of Infectologists and an employee of the Department of Infectology and Travel Medicine of the FM UPJŠ and UNLP prof. Pavol Jarčuška, M.D., PhD., noted that also the healthcare professionals, who inhaling aerosol with coronaviruses exhaled by patients,  are at risk during the treatment of patients with severe conditions in hospitals. The programmed multi-level lung ventilation system, PMLV improving patient ventilation, reduces the amount of emitted aerosol and provides greater protection for healthcare professionals.

    Further research could improve the functions of the device. “We have prepared a Long-term Strategic Research and Development project for DSV VYMUVEP, whose next benefit should be the development of a trainer for practical training of lung ventilation for intensivists, what would be very useful right now when we need to train many doctors to handle the new lung ventilators,” says the head of the Department of Medical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, UPJŠ and the supervisor of the DSV VYMUVEP project at the FM UPJŠ prof. Viliam Donič, M.D., CSc.