Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally (VITAL): Initiative by NASA
NASA refers to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; it is the US government agency responsible for science and technology related to space and air.
Recently NASA came into news due to a contribution towards the fight against COVID-19. The medical community of the US addressing the shortage of ventilators for treating corona patients, NASA came out to address such issues by developing a high-pressure ventilator prototype specifically for treating COVID- 19 patients. They have named this device as Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally (VITAL) which can be easily built and is able to treat patients with milder symptoms, which simultaneously will help the doctors in treating the patients with more severe COVID symptoms with that of the limited supply of traditional ventilators. Also, on Tuesday this prototype has passed the critical test at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, which is an epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States.
On this occasion, the Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said, “We specialize in spacecraft, not medical-device manufacturing, but excellent engineering, rigorous testing, and rapid prototyping are some of our specialties. When people at JPL realized they might have what it takes to support the medical community and the broader community, they felt it was their duty to share their ingenuity, expertise, and drive”.[1]
However, through the fast-track approval process in the US specifically developed for the crisis type situation, NASA’s prototype is now seeking approval from the FDA for use authorization.
Also, Associate Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine, Matthew Levin said, “The NASA prototype performed as expected under a wide variety of simulated patient conditions. The team feels confident that the VITAL ventilator will be able to safely ventilate patients suffering from COVID-19 both here in the US and throughout the world”.
NASA’s this prototype has got this popularity due to flexible design that is, it can be customized in any setup being used as hospitals like that of hotels, convention centers, and others across the country and globe. Also, it has got a specialty in building at a faster rate and can be maintained more easily as compared to that of traditional ventilators.
However, it is also important to note that this design would not be able to replace the current traditional ventilators, as VITAL can last for three to four months and developed specifically for treating COVID-19 patients.
Dr. J.D. Polk, NASA’s chief health and the medical officer said, “Intensive care units are seeing COVID-19 patients who require highly dynamic ventilators, the intention with VITAL is to decrease the likelihood patients will get to that advanced stage of the disease and require more advanced ventilator assistance.”[2]
Submitted by
Sakshi Raje
Student Reported, INBA
[1] https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/nasa-develops-high-pressure-ventilator-to-fight-covid-19/article31423361.ece
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-develops-covid-19-prototype-ventilator-in-37-days