In 1929, the American physician Philip Drinker (1894–1972) unveiled the first mechanical respirator, a machine meant to provide artificial respiration for a person who was unable to breathe properly. The large metal tank was built so that a child or adult could fit inside the pressurized environment, on his or her back with a rubber collar around the neck. In the decades following the advent of the Drinker respirator, scientists refined and improved this process, but the application of respirator therapy—or the use of an outside device to aid in breathing—continues.

Today, doctors mainly use positive-pressure ventilators to aid breathing in newborns with respiratory distress syndrome and premature babies who are administered an anesthetic for surgery. (Ventilators are also used for adults suffering from respiratory arrest, coma, apnea, respiratory muscle fatigue, or abnormally slow or weak breathing.) These machines, which consist of a turbine, oxygen supply, and reservoir, deliver air to the patient. For infants, the most common ventilator methods involve a face mask attached to a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine. If only a small amount of additional oxygen is needed, the patient wears a nasal cannula—a tube with plastic prongs that are inserted into the nose. A specific amount of oxygen is released through the tubes and into the nose each minute.

Mechanical ventilator machines also measure peak airway pressure, which is the amount of pressure needed to overcome the natural respiratory resistance caused by the lungs and chest wall. Trained professionals known as respiratory therapists keep tabs on the amount of pressure to apply. Too much pressure can damage the lungs or airways, while too little can deprive the lungs of the oxygen that’s needed throughout the body.

ADDITIONAL FACTS

  1. The Drinker respirator was also known as an iron lung.
  2. Modern-day ventilators became popular during the polio epidemics of the 20th century.