Ventinova Medical
Redefining Patient Ventilation

It was just another day at a multispecialty hospital. The corridors were bustling with nurses, interns, doctors, ward personnel, and patients. At the reception of the healthcare facility, the expert team of a medical device manufacturing company, Ventinova Medical, was seated, waiting for their turn to meet the chief medical officer and pitch for their newly-developed patient ventilation and airway access management equipment. At the moment, they overheard doctors discuss a surgery they could not continue because the hospital’s anaesthesia equipment failed to stabilise a cancer patient during the procedure. The situation was intense. The patient had less than five percent chances of survival without proper ventilation. Seeing the emergency before them, Ventinova’s team came forth to the doctors’ rescue. They handed over Ventinova’s mechanical ventilator, Evone, to the doctors and requested them to ventilate the patient. Using Evone, the patient was stabilised, and the doctors were able to go through the surgery without any further interruption. The head of the ICU and anaesthesia department stated, “This patient would not have survived without Evone.”

This whole scenario was so much more than just a regular elevator pitch for Ventinova. The company was practically able to prove the competency of its devices on a patient in a life-threatening situation. “Such is the splendour of our products,” expresses Dirk van Asseldonk, founder and CEO of Ventinova. Today, the company, with its unique portfolio of solutions that include the mechanical ventilator Evone, the disposable manual ventilator Ventrain, and airway access management devices Cricath and Tritube, is redefining patient ventilation as a whole.

How It All Began

Ventinova’s journey started when van Asseldonk founded Dolphys Medical back in 2003. Dolphys specialised in developing drug-delivery systems. In 2007, the firm developed a new drug release implant in partnership with Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC) in the Netherlands. This is where van Asseldonk met Prof. Dr. med. Dietmar Enk, an anesthesiologist responsible for several medical innovations. The duo came up with the idea to redefine the patient ventilation system, and this led them to lay the cornerstone for Ventinova Medical (venti meaning ventilation and nova meaning new).

Breakthrough Ventilation Technique

At the core of Ventinova’s revolutionary products is the company’s breakthrough ventilation technique, flow controlled ventilation (FCV), which controls both the inspiration and expiration phase during artificial ventilation. Control of the expiratory phase is enabled by suctioning, which is unique for Ventinova’s products. By that a continuous flow is generated, without ventilation pauses, resulting in linear increase and decrease in intratracheal pressures.

All of our products are more than just upgrades of the present, standard ventilation practice. The FCV technology ensures enhanced patient ventilation with minimal impact and maximal gas flow control

This leads to increased ventilation performance and less risk of lung damage as compared to both volume controlled ventilation (VCV) and pressured controlled ventilation (PCV). With conventional tubes, which are much thicker, controlling expiration is already difficult, so suctioning will only make it worse. This is the reason Ventinova’s devices are designed to be used with thin tubes (for high resistance against outflow). “All of our products are more than just upgrades of the present, standard ventilation practice. The FCV technology ensures enhanced patient ventilation with minimal impact and maximal gas flow control,” explains van Asseldonk.

Minimal Impact, Maximum Control

Evone, the firm’s flagship device, is a first-of-its-kind mechanical ventilator capable of monitoring the airway of a patient and adapting to their ventilation requirements accordingly. Evone is designed to be used in combination with Ventinova’s Tritube—an ultrathin endotracheal tube (outer diameter of 4.4 mm)—enabling highly-accurate intratracheal pressure measurements and securing the airway with an inflatable cuff. However, Ventinova also provides a Conventional Tube Adapter for doctors who prefer working with their conventional thick tubes and still want to benefit from Evone’s superior ventilation performance.

The extensive capabilities of Ventinova’s devices don’t stop there. The company also helps doctors tackle ‘Cannot Intubate, Cannot Oxygenate (CICO)’ circumstances easily with its FDA-approved, manually-operable small lumen ventilator, Ventrain. When used in combination with Cricath, Ventinova’s cricothyrotomy catheter, Ventrain allows adequate ventilation via any route of airway access (oral, nasal, or front of the neck) through a tiny catheter.

To better highlight this aspect, van Asseldonk cites an instance of an individual that was experiencing difficulty in breathing after choking on a meatball. The first responders began treating the patient by first inserting Cricath into the patient’s windpipe and then connecting Ventrain to the tube, providing him with immediate ventilation. This stabilised the patient until an emergency doctor came in and removed the meatball. “Cricath, in combination with Ventrain, is an emergency kit that not only stabilises the patient but also provides doctors the requisite time to secure the airway and ventilate a patient,” remarks van Asseldonk.

Spearheading a Safer Future

Successes like this are always motivating Ventinova to propel forward. As a part of Ventinova’s continued mission to offer products that eliminate large, sudden pressure changes in the lungs, the firm is now working on advancing the capabilities of its airway access management and ventilation products. Alongside, Ventinova is also looking to expand its geographic footprint across other parts of Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. “With the mounting pressure to provide a higher quality of care, we are here to make every healthcare facility’s ventilation easier, affordable, and above all: better,” concludes van Asseldonk.