alveo: From Idea to Reality

Cutting-edge medical technology from Buchs SG

A revolutionary lung simulator from the Rhine Valley

After two years of intensive development, Buchs-based IMT Analytics is bringing alveo, a state-of-the-art lung simulator, to the market. The project demonstrates what inventiveness and a passion for high-end medical technology can achieve at a specialized engineering company with 30 years of experience in ventilation technology. In future, alveo will support doctors, respiratory therapists and development engineers around the world in training and in the development of ventilators – an important investment in the medical future from the St. Gallen Rhine Valley.

Like a human lung

A lung simulator is a medical training device that mimics the function of human lungs. It simulates realistic lung physiology under different conditions – from healthy to diseased lungs. It responds to ventilators, anaesthesia machines or manual resuscitation bags in the same way as real human lungs.

Practising emergencies safely

In the training of medical professionals, alveo is used by respiratory therapists, intensive care nurses and doctors so they can practise artificial ventilation and emergency scenarios in a safe environment. Manufacturers use alveo for quality control and performance testing of newly developed ventilators. In research, engineers use it to evaluate new technical applications or prototypes. Students learn how to handle different lung physiologies and “degrees of severity”, airway resistance and modern ventilation modes – something that is naturally much easier to simulate than to test directly on human subjects.

It can also simulate asthma and coughing

Lung simulators have been used for decades in the development of ventilators. Researchers and manufacturers use them to test airflow, pressure and the intensity of artificial ventilation applied to patients with conditions such as asthma, COPD* or ARDS**.

From preterm infants to seniors

To ensure that patients with lung diseases who require artificial ventilation are treated correctly, medical professionals such as doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and students must be properly trained. Since the youngest patients can be premature infants with tiny lungs about the size of four sugar cubes, it is crucial that they are ventilated without errors, gently and with the correct volume, pressure and rhythm for their size. The same, of course, applies to patients at the other end of the age spectrum.

Easy, realistic simulation

alveo differs from older lung simulators in several fundamental ways. The device is more compact and portable – weighing only 6.8 kilograms, it can easily be transported between classrooms, laboratories and clinics. This is an advantage over older models. Particularly innovative is the tablet-based control: alveo is operated via an 11-inch Android tablet, making operation intuitive and modern. Older systems require manual adjustments on mechanical knobs.

What makes alveo special is its modern physiology simulation and a turbine drive, which together enable realistic real-time simulations. Older devices lack these capabilities. alveo can be monitored and controlled wirelessly. Experienced users can create their own breathing profiles and integrate the compatible system into tests of all types of ventilators and anaesthesia devices.

*Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – a progressive lung disease such as chronic bronchitis, with permanently narrowed airways.
**Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome – acute lung failure.