Control of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) for small animal ventilators

BACKGROUND: The positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) for the mechanical ventilation of small animals is frequently obtained with water seals or by using ventilators developed for human use. An alternative mechanism is the use of an on-off expiratory valve closing at the moment when the alveolar pressure is equal to the target PEEP. In this paper, a novel PEEP controller (PEEP-new) and the PEEP system of a commercial small-animal ventilator, both based on switching an on-off valve, are evaluated. METHODS: The proposed PEEP controller is a discrete integrator monitoring the error between the target PEEP and the airways opening pressure prior to the onset of an inspiratory cycle. In vitro as well as in vivo experiments with rats were carried out and the PEEP accuracy, settling time and under/overshoot were considered as a measure of performance. RESULTS: The commercial PEEP controller did not pass the tests since it ignores the airways resistive pressure drop, resulting in a PEEP 5 cmH(2)O greater than the target in most conditions. The PEEP-new presented steady-state errors smaller than 0.5 cmH(2)O, with settling times below 10 s and under/overshoot smaller than 2 cmH(2)O. CONCLUSION: The PEEP-new presented acceptable performance, considering accuracy and temporal response. This novel PEEP generator may prove useful in many applications for small animal ventilators.