The Performance of the Engström Ventilator

Intensive care medicine and the intensivist: from 1850 to 2021

“…In the 1960s, the first commercialized mechanical ventilator appeared that was capable of providing controlled pressures and flows, both inspiratory and expiratory, called Engstrom. 7 Anesthesiologists were in charge of caring for patients using these devices, as well as sedation and neuromuscular blockade. In the Vietnam War, intubation and mechanical ventilation were already more adopted 8 .…”

Historical Perspective on Nutrition and Intensive Care

“…Volume-cycled pressure-limited ventilators date to around 1955, and they became widely available in the United States in the late 1960s. 1 Ventilators simply took up too much room, and required too much nursing care (and respiratory technologists and physicians) to be managed in a room on the floor; however, they allowed more patients to survive. As an example, the mortality rate for "flail chest" injury went from 50% down to 5% in a decade.…”

“…The most obvious reason was the advent of the modern ventilator. Volume‐cycled pressure‐limited ventilators date to around 1955, and they became widely available in the United States in the late 1960s . Ventilators simply took up too much room, and required too much nursing care (and respiratory technologists and physicians) to be managed in a room on the floor; however, they allowed more patients to survive.…”