Intubation Guide Rod With Bidirectional Tip and One-Handed Tube Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current intubation methods require multiple attempts and additional personnel due to the need for manual adjustment of guide rods and endotracheal tubes, posing risks of oxygen deprivation and vocal cord injury during difficult airway management.
Innovation Solution
A medical instrument with a plastically deformable guide rod and bidirectionally deformable guide element, controlled by a one-handed actuator and push-pull mechanism, allowing single-person intubation without caliber jumps, minimizing airway damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a traditional rigid intubation laryngoscope is used, then the structural strength is sufficient, but the ease of operation is poor due to inability to adapt to different patient anatomies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the shaft flexible instead of rigid, allowing it to bend and adapt to different patient anatomies. The shaft comprises multiple segments that can flex relative to each other, enabling the device to conform to curved pathways while maintaining structural integrity during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft is divided into multiple segments or sections that can flex independently. This segmentation allows the shaft to bend at various angles and adapt to different anatomical configurations while maintaining overall structural strength, resolving the contradiction between flexibility and rigidity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a flexible shaft is used to improve ease of operation, then the adaptability improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible shaft design enables the device to adapt to different patient anatomies and intubation scenarios. The dynamic flexibility allows the shaft to conform to various curved pathways while the segmented structure maintains manageable complexity through modular construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft utilizes flexible material construction with thin-walled segments that provide both adaptability to different anatomies and controlled structural integrity. This flexible shell approach allows the device to bend and flex without requiring complex internal support mechanisms.
3Measurement precision
If the shaft is made flexible to reach difficult anatomical positions, then the measurement precision improves, but the stability of the object's composition deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft is constructed from multiple discrete segments that can flex independently. This segmentation provides both the flexibility needed to reach difficult anatomical positions and the structural stability needed to maintain precise positioning, as each segment can be optimized for both flexibility and rigidity.
Solution Approach 2:
The dynamic flexible shaft allows the device to adapt to curved anatomical pathways while maintaining stable composition through controlled flexing. The shaft can bend to reach difficult positions but maintains its segmented structure to prevent collapse or loss of positioning accuracy.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A description is given of a medical instrument for intubating a patient with an endotracheal tube, ETT for short, enclosing a hollow channel, and also with a guiding rod, which is arranged along the hollow channel, is plastically deformable at least in an axial portion and has a distal rod end and a proximal rod end, attached to the distal rod end of which guiding rod is a bidirectionally deformable guiding element, which has a distal element end and a proximal element end, the proximal element end of the guiding rod element being joined to the distal rod end and the guiding element being connected to a control means. The invention is distinguished by the fact that an operating unit is attached to the proximal rod end of the guiding rod and has an actuator, which is connected to the control means, and also has a push-pull mechanism, which is securely in operative connection with the ETT in a releasable manner and by which the ETT can be moved along the guiding rod, and that, when intubing the ETT together with the guiding rod arranged in the hollow channel of the ETT along with the bidirectionally deformable guiding element attached thereto, the distal end of the ETT finishes with the distal element end or the proximal element end merely projects in a dome-like manner beyond the distal end of the ETT.