Use Case Demonstration: X-Ray/Ventilator

Patients who need an x-ray while under anesthesia are at risk because clinicians turn off the anesthesia ventilator for an x-ray and may forget to turn it back on afterwards. This problem occurred in a case study reported by the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation in 2004. We demonstrate a system in which automatic synchronization of the x-ray exposure with ventilation eliminates the need to turn off the ventilator to obtain an x-ray. This is accomplished by triggering the x-ray (simulated with a web camera) with the respiratory flow signal.