PulmoVista 500 for monitoring ventilation in critical care

The technology described in this briefing is PulmoVista 500. It is for monitoring lung ventilation for people having intubation and ventilation in critical care.

The innovative aspects are that the PulmoVista 500 allows non-invasive and continuous monitoring of lung ventilation at the bedside, by measuring regional gas distribution.

The intended place in therapy would be in addition to standard care in people having intubation and ventilation in critical care.

The main points from the evidence summarised in this briefing are from 5 studies using PulmoVista 500. These include 1 cohort study with a historic control and 3 observational studies, with a total of 210 adults having ventilatory support in a critical care unit. The studies show that it is feasible to use electrical impedance tomography to measure clinically relevant regional lung ventilation distributions in people who are intubated and ventilated in critical care.

Key uncertainties around the evidence or technology are that the studies do not compare standard care with the combination of standard care and PulmoVista 500.

The cost of PulmoVista 500 is approximately £79 per examination. The resource impact would be greater than standard of care.