Apnea-responsive ventilator system and method

A ventilator system operable to provide a series of mechanical breaths to a patient responsive to a triggering command, the ventilator system comprising:

• breathing ventilator means for supplying the series of mechanical breaths to a patient responsive to the triggering command;
• detector means for sensing spontaneous breaths by the patient;
• controller means for controlling the ventilator to supply a series of mechanical breaths to the patient in the event that the patient fails to breathe spontaneously, the controller means including
• ventilator trigger means for sending the triggering command to the ventilator,
• breath series controller means for supplying a time series of commands to the ventilator trigger to produce a series of mechanical breaths to the patient responsive to the receipt of an initiation signal, the series of commands being timed such that the rate of the breaths in the series of mechanical breaths decreases from an initial value to a lower value over time, and
• initiator means for supplying the initiation signal to the breath series controller in the event that the time since the last spontaneous breath as determined by the detector exceeds some preselected period of time.

A ventilator system operable with a breathing ventilator that controllably supplies a mechanical breath to a patient responsive to a triggering command and a detector that senses spontaneous breaths by the patient and provides a detector signal indicative of spontaneous breaths by the patient, the ventilator system comprising controller means for controlling the ventilator to supply mechanical breaths to the patient in the event that the patient fails to breathe spontaneously, the controller means including:

• a ventilator trigger that sends the triggering command to the ventilator;
• a breath series controller that, upon receipt of an initiation signal, supplies a time series of commands to the ventilator trigger to produce a series of mechanical breaths to the patient, the series of commands being timed such that the rate of the individual Breaths in the series of mechanical breaths decreases from an initial value to a lower value over time;
• and
• initiator means for receiving the detector signal and for supplying the initiation signal to the breath series controller in the event that the time since the last spontaneous breath as indicated by the detector signal exceeds some preselected period of time.

A method for ventilating an apneic patient who fails to breathe for a first period of time and for gradually inducing the patient to resume breathing over a second period of time, comprising the steps of:

• providing a patient subject to an intermittent cessation of spontaneous breathing;
• monitoring the spontaneous breaths of the patient;
• and
• providing a series of mechanical breaths to the patient in response to the cessation of spontaneous breaths by the patient for the first period of time, the individual breaths of the series being timed such that the rate of the breaths decreases with increasing time over the second period of time.