COVID-19 Pandemic: It is Time to Think for Micro-Electro-Mechanical System-Based Bidirectional Flow Sensor

Sir, Pulmonary protective ventilation with careful control of pressure and volume is required when ventilating patients with complex acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) like pneumonia associated with COVID-19.These are evidence-based interventions for mechanical ventilation in patients with ARDS for improving outcomes. [1]Modern intensive care unit (ICU) ventilators provide complex control and intricate feedback loops for a wide variety of respiratory parameters and ventilation modalities.However, many commercially available ventilators that were built specifically for emergency use in large number of COVID-19 patients have only one mode of assisted ventilation (i.e., mandatory breaths not synchronised to patient's inspiratory effort). [2]These do not have the capability of sensing flow of gases reliably and therefore cannot control pressure and volume delivery in response to changing characteristics of the COVID-19 lungs.There is increased risk of barotrauma and further deterioration of lung injury.