A system and accompanying assembly, of integrated or modular construction, for inflating and monitoring pressure within a retaining cuff including a housing having a pressure chamber connected in fluid communication with a fluid pressure source and a fluid communicating connection with the retaining cuff. Associated control circuitry includes a pressure sensor disposable in fluid communication with the pressure chamber and the retaining cuff, via the fluid communicating connection and structured to concurrently determine and monitor pressure within the pressure chamber and the retaining cuff. The control circuitry is cooperatively structured with the pressure sensor and other operative components to establish dynamic multilevel sampling capabilities, calibration parameters stored within the control circuitry prior to use and limited or single use capabilities of the assembly.

A pressure adjustment apparatus including a pump, a selector valve coupled to the pump, and a chamber in selective fluid communication with the pump through the selector valve is disclosed. The pump includes a pump body that defines a variable volume therein, the pump body further defining a first aperture and a second aperture therethrough. The selector valve includes a first check valve disposed in a first fluid channel of a plurality of fluid channels, the first check valve being oriented to permit flow through the first fluid channel only in a first flow direction, the first flow direction being a flow direction out of the variable volume, and a second check valve disposed in a second fluid channel of the plurality of fluid channels, the second check valve being oriented to permit flow through the second fluid channel only in a second flow direction.

An endotracheal tube (1) comprises a tubular body (2) having a form of a flexible curved transparent tube with open proximal (3) and distal (4) ends, a connector (7) mounted on the proximal end of the tube and served for attaching a tube cavity to a ventilation device, an inflatable cuff (9) having a cavity, said inflatable cuff fixed hermetically around the distal end of the curved tube and configured to be inflated to seal the cuff against a wall of a patient's trachea and to hold the distal end of the endotracheal tube in the desired position in a patient's larynx, a longitudinal air supply channel (10) in the wall of the tubular body, said channel being in communication with the cavity of the inflatable cuff, a sealed balloon (12) having elastic walls and configured to maintain and monitor pressure in the cuff cavity, the sealed balloon connected to an air supply port, and connected via a catheter (13) to the longitudinal air supply channel to supply an air into the cuff cavity, and a mark (14) made on the surface of the tube from the side of the proximal end at a distance of 2.5-3 cm from the inflatable cuff, wherein the inflatable cuff comprises two layers (15,16), wherein an outer layer (15) of the inflatable cuff is made of a porous biocompatible polymer material and serves as a depot for input and hold the drug in the pores of the polymer material and remove the drug from the pores of the zone of contacting of the cuff with the trachea when the cuff is inflated providing infusion of the drug into the tracheal mucosa.

A cuff assembly for an airway tube includes an outer bladder and an inner cuff. The inner cuff is positioned adjacent to the airway tube, and the outer bladder is positioned adjacent to the inner cuff. The outer bladder is made with a less elastic material and operates at a higher relative pressure. The inner cuff is made with a more elastic or hyper-elastic material and operates at a lower relative pressure. A pressure controller independently adjusts the pressure within the inner cuff and the outer bladder. A secretion collection receptacle is formed by the cuff assembly and is evacuated via a suction catheter or channel.

A cuff pressure management device (10) for a tracheal breathing tube (54) with an inflatable cuff (90), comprises a volume displacement subsystem (36), a pressure transducer (44), a compliance determination circuit (34), and a cuff pressure controller (24). The volume displacement subsystem provides (i) a measured volume of pressurized gas to and from the cuff and (ii) a cuff gas volume signal. The pressure transducer provides a cuff gas pressure signal. The compliance determination circuit is configured to calculate cuff compliance and an estimated tracheal airway compliance based on the gas volume signal and the gas pressure signal. The cuff pressure controller is in controlling communication with the volume displacement subsystem and the compliance determination circuit to maintain cuff pressure based on the calculated cuff compliance.

Reduction to the risk that artifacts occur in the cuff pressure measurement owing to accumulations of water in the cuff is by a tracheal ventilation device, including a cannula tube and an inflatable sleeve (cuff) arranged around the cannula tube. The sleeve is in fluid contact with a filling tube. In certain embodiments, the inner surface of the filling tube is formed by a solid hydrophilic layer. Further disclosed is a method that improves the pressure measurement in the sleeve of a conventional tracheal ventilation device.

The present invention relates generally to medical devices, methods, and kits. More particularly, the present invention relates to improved endotracheal tubes or patient ventilation tubes which prevent the leakage of proximal secretions to the distal airways.

The present invention relates to a device and a method for alternately measuring the thoracic and pleural pressure and for gastropharyngeal or tracheal sealing, wherein the balloon component of a tube or catheter placed in the trachea or oesophagus alternates between two filling or functional states, wherein the filling state of the balloon component in the measuring mode assumes a value of constant, defined volume during the measurement, said value corresponding to a flaccid filling state, and the filling state of the balloon in the oesophageally or tracheally sealing functional mode maintains a constant, sealing pressure specified by the user. The controller device connected to the tube unit or catheter unit ensures rapid displacement of filling medium into and out of the tube balloon or catheter balloon in the state of tracheal or oesophageal sealing, wherein the tracheally or oesophageally sealing target pressure is maintained continuously by compensating pressure fluctuations in the balloon caused by respiratory mechanics by a continuous, compensating displacement of filling volume. The user can switch between the two functional states by means of a manual switchover function or by means of a programmable, chronological cycle. In addition to the possibility of an intermittent monitoring of the respiratory mechanics and a continuous, tracheally or oesophageally sealing balloon tamponade, the balloon placed in the trachea or oesophagus allows, in both functional states, the thoracic derivation of a triggering, respiratory-mechanical signal which can trigger a ventilating stroke assisting the patient in a ventilator connected to the device. The invention also describes structural and functional options for the simultaneous derivation of a neural and/or muscular electrical signal from the diaphragm of the patient and a respiratory-mechanical signal on the basis of thoracic or pleural pressure fluctuations derived tracheally or oesophageally.

An airway status evaluation apparatus includes a respiration monitoring unit, a data processing unit, an inflation/deflation unit, and an inflation/deflation control unit. The data processing unit is electrically connected to the respiration monitoring unit, collects a respiration parameter of a patient from the respiration monitoring unit when a cuff meets an evaluation state, and evaluates an airway status of the patient according to the respiration parameter. The inflation/deflation control unit is connected to the inflation/deflation unit and controls the inflation/deflation unit to inflate and deflate the cuff so as to enable the cuff to meet an evaluation state. In the present disclosure, inflation and deflation of the cuff are implemented in a full-automatic or semi-automatic control manner, the respiration parameter can be automatically monitored, and the evaluation result is automatically calculated, thereby achieving the automatic evaluation for the airway status of a patient.

The disclosure relates to an airway maintenance device, such as an endotracheal tube, tracheostomy tube, or supraglottic airway device, and in particular to an airway maintenance device having a sensor for measuring capillary blood flow and/or pressure. The device includes an airway maintenance device with an airway lumen having a proximal end and a distal end, a distal end portion incorporating an optical sensor configured to measure capillary blood flow in tissue surrounding the distal end when in position within a patient's airway. The optical sensor may include a portion of an optical fibre extending to the distal end portion along the lumen.