Concealed Closed Tracheoscope Breathing Circuit for Visualized Suction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current airway management in ICUs is constrained by the high cost and inconvenience of disposable tracheoscopes, limiting their dynamic and on-demand use, which leads to inefficient blind suction and increased incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia.
Innovation Solution
A combined system of a concealed closed tracheoscope and an artificial airway breathing circuit, integrating a tracheoscope with an inhalation and exhalation circuit, featuring a hidden tracheoscope insertion portion and extendable corrugated tubes, allowing for visualized and efficient suction with negative-pressure control, and facilitating easy cleaning to extend the tracheoscope's lifespan.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If disposable tracheoscopes are used, then cross-infection risk is reduced, but one-time cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The tracheoscope is divided into two distinct parts: a disposable sheath that contacts the patient and is discarded after single use to prevent cross-infection, and a reusable handle portion containing the control mechanisms that can be sterilized and reused. This segmentation allows the system to achieve the infection protection of disposable devices while reducing the cost impact of reusing the more expensive handle component.
Solution Approach 2:
The handle portion is extracted as a separate reusable component from the disposable sheath. By taking out the expensive control mechanisms and housing from the single-use portion, the patent enables the expensive parts to be sterilized and reused while only the inexpensive sheath is discarded, thereby reducing the overall one-time cost while maintaining infection control.
2Quantity of substance
If reusable tracheoscopes are used, then one-time cost is reduced, but disinfection contamination risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tracheoscope is divided into two distinct parts: a disposable sheath that contacts the patient and is discarded after single use to prevent cross-infection, and a reusable handle portion containing the control mechanisms that can be sterilized and reused. This segmentation allows the system to achieve the infection protection of disposable devices while reducing the cost impact of reusing the more expensive handle component.
3Device complexity
If blind suction methods are used, then device complexity is reduced, but airway management efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the visual inspection capability of a tracheoscope with the suction function in a single integrated device. The sheath contains both the visual inspection lumen and the suction lumen, allowing simultaneous visualization and suctioning. This combination eliminates the need for separate blind suction devices while maintaining operational simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The sheath is designed with multiple functions: it provides visual inspection through the transparent wall, enables suction through the integrated lumen, and maintains a sealed connection to the breathing circuit. This multi-functional design allows a single device to perform multiple airway management tasks that would otherwise require separate instruments.
4Reliability
If regular tracheoscopy is performed, then airway management quality is improved, but usage cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tracheoscope is divided into two distinct parts: a disposable sheath that contacts the patient and is discarded after single use to prevent cross-infection, and a reusable handle portion containing the control mechanisms that can be sterilized and reused. This segmentation allows the system to achieve the infection protection of disposable devices while reducing the cost impact of reusing the more expensive handle component.
Solution Approach 2:
The disposable sheath is discarded after single use to ensure infection control, while the expensive handle portion is recovered and sterilized for reuse. This selective discarding and recovery strategy maintains high airway management quality through proper infection control while reducing overall usage costs by reusing the expensive components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides sustainable, convenient, and low-cost airway management, reducing cross-infection risks and ventilator-associated pneumonia, while extending the tracheoscope's service life and lowering the one-time cost.
Implementation Method 1
The tracheoscope insertion portion is moved forward by retraction of the extendable breathing circuit catheter
Implementation Method 2
visualized and efficient suction with negative-pressure control
Data Source
AI summary
A combined system of a concealed closed tracheoscope and an artificial airway breathing circuit includes an artificial airway breathing tubing and a tracheoscope. The artificial airway breathing tubing includes an inhalation circuit and an exhalation circuit that are connected through a connecting tube. The tracheoscope includes a handle portion and an insertion portion connected to the handle portion. The tracheoscope handle portion wraps around a section of the exhalation circuit. The tracheoscope insertion portion is hidden in the extendable breathing circuit, which extends and retracts to make the tracheoscope insertion portion advance or retreat in a closed condition. The tracheoscope handle function assembly cleverly wraps around the surface of the breathing circuit tubing, organically combining the functions of the tracheoscope handle and the breathing circuit. Meanwhile, the tube interface can be cleaned to keep the tracheoscope clean and unobstructed, such that the service life of the tracheoscope can be extended.