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ABSTRACT: Background
Secretions accumulate in endotracheal tubes' (ETT) lumens upon their placement in patients. The secretions impact airway resistance and pressure. Secretions potentiate prolonged mechanical ventilation and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Our primary objective in this study was to evaluate an ETT-clearing device (ETT-CD) in its ability to remove secretions from ex vivo ETT lumens.Methods
Forty ETTs, obtained from intensive care patients at extubation, were individually placed into a ventilator field performance testing simulator at 37°C. The pressure drop through the ETTs was measured at a flow rate of 60?L/min before and after cleaning with the ETT-CD and compared with unused, similarly sized controls tubes. The ETT-CD was inserted into an ETT until the tip reached Murphy's eye (hole in the side) of the ETT. The wiper, set back from the tip, was expanded by ETT-CD handle activation. As the ETT-CD was removed, the distal wiper extracted secretions from the ETT lumen.Results
Forty ETTs were tested with nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Before being cleared with the ETT-CD, the median pressure drop in the extubated 7.5?mm ETTs was 17.8?cm H2O; after ETT-CD use, it was 12.3. The cleared ETTs were significantly improved over the ETTs before being cleared (p < 0.001); however, there remained a significant difference between the cleared ETTs and the control tubes (p=0.005), indicating the clearing was not to the level of an unused ETT. Similar results were determined for the 8.0?mm ETTs.Conclusions
For the 7.5?mm and the 8.0?mm EETs, the ETT-CD improved effective patency of the ETTs over the uncleared ETTs, independent of occlusion location, tube size, or length of tube. However, there remained a significant difference between the cleared tubes and controls.
SUBMITTER: Waters C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6311789 | biostudies-literature | 2018
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Waters Christopher C Wiener R Constance RC Motlagh Hamed M HM
Critical care research and practice 20181210
<h4>Background</h4>Secretions accumulate in endotracheal tubes' (ETT) lumens upon their placement in patients. The secretions impact airway resistance and pressure. Secretions potentiate prolonged mechanical ventilation and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Our primary objective in this study was to evaluate an ETT-clearing device (ETT-CD) in its ability to remove secretions from <i>ex vivo</i> ETT lumens.<h4>Methods</h4>Forty ETTs, obtained from intensive care patients at extubation, were indivi ...[more]