Philips Launches New Two-in-One Life Support Ventilator in Canada

Royal Philips N.V. has launched the Philips Respironics V680 ventilator in Canada, offering hospitals both invasive and non-invasive ventilation solutions. 

In consultation with clinicians, the Philips Respironics V680 ventilator is designed for smoother transition from ventilation to natural breathing, which may help enhance patient care, company executives noted in a news release. The Philips Respironics V680 ventilator joins Philips’ existing portfolio of lpatient-centred hospital respiratory care solutions, created to deliver high quality and comfortable care.

“For nearly 125 years, Philips has been committed to delivering innovations that improve people’s lives. The Philips Respironics V680 Ventilator is another example of Philips technology that is designed with the needs of both the patient and clinician in mind,” said Iain Burns, president of Philips Canada.

Bigwigs claim the Philips Respironics V680 ventilator is the first such device to combine the single-limb noninvasive ventilation (NIV) solution with a fully featured, dual-limb system. Designed to deliver advanced life support for critically ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the Philips Respironics V680 ventilator also is designed to make it fast and easy to switch from invasive to noninvasive ventilation to streamline transitions. Personalized to each patient, the Philips Respironics V680 ventilator can help deliver the right therapy at the right time and is the only device to provide continuous measurements of dynamic resistance, compliance, elastance, and plateau pressure in both single and dual-limb invasive and noninvasive modes, the company touted in its news release.

“Noninvasive therapy has become the first line of therapy for many patients presenting with respiratory distress,” said Thomas Piraino, RRT, FCSRT, Best Practice clinical educator and assistant clinical professor (adjunct) for McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. “In my opinion, the BiPAP Vision, and the current V60 have always been the gold standard for the noninvasive treatment of acute respiratory distress. The ability to deliver invasive mechanical ventilation for the patient unable to improve, or be managed with noninvasive therapy is what makes the V680 ventilator a compelling product for critical care and emergency departments, or as a primary mechanical ventilator in the community hospital setting.”

NIV has become a standard of care for the management of acute respiratory failure, but there is a risk of leaks around the mask that may interfere with ventilator performance. As a result, patient-ventilator asynchrony, defined as a mismatch between patient’s inspiratory time and the ventilator insufflation time, may occur in nearly 25 per cent of intubated patients.¹ These high rates of asynchrony can be associated with a higher incidence of weaning failure and tracheostomy, prolonged mechanical ventilation, fatigue, increased sedation needs and longer hospital stays.¹

A recent study to compare patient-ventilator synchrony during NIV between ICU, transport and dedicated NIV ventilators, found the use of a NIV ventilator on critically ill patients led to a significant decrease in the incidence of patient-ventilator asynchrony.² Moreover, dedicated NIV ventilators exhibited more standardised behaviour during the investigation, with an ability to avoid auto-triggering or delayed cycling while keeping a short triggering delay despite the presence of leaks.²

The Philips Respironics V680 ventilator joins Philips’ existing portfolio of patient-centred hospital respiratory care solutions, including the Philips Respironics V60; a hospital-dedicated noninvasive ventilator.

The Philips Respironics V680 ventilator currently is available in Canada and several European markets.

¹ Bitando et al. Patient-ventilator asynchrony during conventional or automated pressure support ventilation in difficult-to-wean patients. Critical Care 2012, 16(Suppl 1):P126
² Carteaux et al. Patient-Ventilator Asynchrony During Noninvasive Ventilitation. Chest 2012; 142(2): p. 367-376.