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Ventilator add-on for delivering PET tracer gases
Kaike K Kaisti1, Jukka Mäkitalo, Hannu T Sipilä
1Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, and Turku PET Centre, Turku University Hospital, PO Box 52, FIN-20521 Turku, Finland. kaike.kaisti@tyks.fi
Objectives:
The increasing use of PET for assessing cerebral blood flow, oxygen metabolism, and blood volume in critically ill patients has created a need for reliable technical solutions for delivering (15)O-tracer gases to mechanically ventilated subjects. Our objective was to create such a solution.
Methods:
We designed a ventilator add-on unit that enables complex functional brain studies using labeled oxygen and carbon monoxide gases as tracers. The unit manages both steady-state and bolus inhalations, and the latter can be manually initiated using a remote trigger. All parts conducting breathing gases can be sterilized. The unit can be operated during both spontaneous pressure support breathing and volume-controlled ventilation. It supports the standard safety features and alarms of the ventilator and includes an overflow valve in the bolus reservoir.
Results:
The count rate curves obtained using the new unit were similar to those from the standard bag-inhalation method.
Conclusion:
The unit we describe offers an economical and easily operated solution for providing uninterrupted ventilator treatment while performing PET brain studies, and the provided treatment meets intensive care criteria.