As deaths from the coronavirus continue to mount, an Israeli inventor thinks his device may be able to help save lives. The invention also has applications for people not infected with the deadly virus.
In a few months, the Chinese equivalent of the FDA is expected to approve CoughSync, an Israeli device that works automatically to clear secretions from the lungs on patients hooked to a ventilator.
Its inventor, Dr. Eliezer Be'eri of Israel's Alyn Pediatric and Rehabilitation Hospital, says his machine could save the lives of patients infected with the coronavirus and the healthcare workers treating them.
The size of two shoe boxes, it connects to the ventilator tubing and uses software to figure out when to clear secretions. CoughSync doesn't require the patient to do anything.
"It identifies the exact point which the ventilator has just finished blowing air into the patient and at that moment the suction machine switches on and sucks air out in a sudden expiration which is really what we do when we cough," says Be'eri.
Here is a video of Be'eri showing how it works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyW027huElc
The machine repeats the clearing as often as necessary. This could be every two to three hours or several times an hour. It generates air flow from deep in the lungs. Be'eri says it's a safer and a more effective management of a patient's airways in the most critical stage of the disease.
Ironically, CoughSync is being manufactured in China by Ruxin Medical Systems. That's also where Be'eri did a clinical trial. He says tests showed CoughSync was safe and effective and avoids the need for catheter suction completely.
