A Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device could provide an alternative breathing aid to help COVID-19 patients with serious lung infections, without the need to use invasive ventilators – according a team of engineers and clinicians, from Formula 1 and UCLH.
CPAP has been used extensively in hospitals in Italy and China to help COVID-19 patients with serious lung infections to breathe more easily, when oxygen alone is insufficient. Reports from Italy have indicated that approximately 50% of patients given CPAP have avoided the need for invasive mechanical ventilation, reducing the demand on intensive care staff and beds.
Engineers at UCL, clinicians supported by NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, and Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (Mercedes AMG HPP) have been working round the clock to reverse engineer a device that can be produced rapidly and manufactured in the thousands. The breathing aid was produced in less than 100 hours from the initial meeting to production of the first device.
The technology has now been approved for clinical and one hundred devices will be delivered to UCLH for clinical trials, with rapid roll-out to hospitals around the country ahead of the predicted surge in COVID-19 hospital admissions.
UCLH critical care consultant Professor Mervyn Singer (UCL Medicine) said: “These devices will help to save lives by ensuring that ventilators, a limited resource, are used only for the most severely ill.
“We hope they will make a real difference to hospitals across the UK by reducing demand on intensive care staff and beds, as well as helping patients recover without the need for more invasive ventilation.”
Andy Cowell, Managing Director of Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains, said: “The Formula One community has shown an impressive response to the call for support, coming together in the ‘Project Pitlane’ collective to support the national need at this time across a number of different projects. We have been proud to put our resources at the service of UCL to deliver the CPAP project to the highest standards and in the fastest possible timeframe.”
Professor Bryan Williams, Director of the NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, said: “This is a fantastic example of collaboration across the UK life sciences and industry sector that could only have happened this quickly because of the partnerships the BRC has cultivated over many years.”
