PERFORMANCE OF THE UNIVERSAL PORTABLE ANESTHESIA COMPLETE VAPORIZER WITH MECHANICAL VENTILATION IN BOTH DRAWOVER AND PUSHOVER CONFIGURATIONS

Currently, a mechanical ventilator that can be adapted to the Universa l Portable Anesthesia Complete (UPAC) vaporizer and anesthetic deliver y system does not exist. The need for the anesthetist to concentrate o n drug delivery and fluid resuscitation for the combat casualty in the field setting provides an expedient for the adaptation of a ventilato r to the UPAC system. The purpose of this study was to determine wheth er the performance of the UPAC vaporizer was significantly altered whe n mechanical ventilation was provided in a drawover versus a pushover configuration, and to provide vaporizer performance curves for ventila tory parameters common for mechanical ventilation, The Ohio V5A and Li fecare PLV-100 ventilators were used in controlled benchwork analysis, The results of the comparison between the two ventilators indicated t hat there was no significant difference in vaporizer output between dr awover and pushover configurations. The data indicated that vaporizer output could be reliably predicted in either mode and was correlated w ith tidal volume and respiratory rate.