TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to medical devices, and in particular to a method and apparatus for evaluating an airway status, as well as a ventilator including the apparatus.

BACKGROUND ART

Tracheal intubation involves the placement of a special endotracheal tube into the nasopharynx or oropharynx, transnasally or transorally, to establish an air passage in the trachea of a patient. Currently, tracheal intubation is a common and important first-aid technique and is an effective measure for ensuring that the patient's airway is unobstructed.

A conventional tracheal tube includes a catheter, an inflatable cuff, and an inflation tube. The catheter is placed into the trachea of the patient. When in use, an insertion end of the catheter is inserted into the trachea of the patient, an exposed end of the catheter is connected to a breathing circuit of a ventilator, and the cuff is fixed outside an end of the catheter inserted into the trachea. The cuff may fix the tube, close the trachea, and prevent an unwanted aspiration. The inflation tube is usually a long, thin flexible tube, with one end connected to an inside of the cuff, and the other end thereof exposed outside and connected to an inflation bag or a syringe. An operator may inflate the cuff by operating the inflation bag or the syringe.

Since the tracheal tube may be inserted into the trachea easily, it is commonly used in emergency situations. The tracheal tube is also convenient for sputum aspiration owing to the relatively large lumen, so it is often used in clinical contexts. However, establishing an artificial airway by tracheal intubation damages and destroys a normal physiological function of a body to some extent. For example, when the cuff pressure is excessively high, it is easy to cause airway damage due to insufficient blood supply to a tracheal mucosa of the patient. Moreover, long-term establishment of the artificial airway sometimes causes a tracheal stenosis of the patient. Therefore, before weaning and extubating for the patient, medical personnel need to evaluate the airway status of the patient and determine whether an extubation may be performed based on the airway patency, otherwise it would cause a difficulty in reintubation or even endanger the patient's life. Currently, the latest artificial airway cuff management guidelines also suggest that a cuff leak test should be performed to evaluate airway patency before extubation.

Conventionally, medical personnel evaluate the airway status based on experience, intubating the patient, operating the cuff, setting the ventilator, and observe the status of the patient. Because medical personnel have to do so many complicated operations, evaluation accuracy may decrease.

SUMMARY

An airway status evaluation apparatus may include: a respiration monitoring unit to monitor a respiration parameter of a patient; an inflation/deflation unit including an interface connected to an inflation tube of a tracheal tube, to inflate or deflate a cuff of the tracheal tube through the inflation tube; an inflation/deflation control unit, connected to the inflation/deflation unit, to control the inflation/deflation unit to inflate and deflate the cuff so as to enable the cuff to meet an evaluation state; and a data processing unit, electrically connected to the respiration monitoring unit, to collect the respiration parameter of the patient from the respiration monitoring unit when the cuff meets the evaluation state and to evaluate an airway status of the patient according to the respiration parameter.

An airway status evaluation apparatus may include: a respiration monitoring unit to monitor a respiration parameter of a patient; an inflation/deflation unit including an interface, connected to an inflation tube of a tracheal tube, to inflate or deflate a cuff of the tracheal tube through the inflation tube; a pressure sensor connected to the cuff to measure cuff pressure; an inflation/deflation control unit, electrically connected to a signal output end of the pressure sensor, to output a command or prompt information about inflating or deflating the cuff after an airway status evaluation procedure is started and to determine whether the cuff meets an evaluation state according to the cuff pressure; and a data processing unit, electrically connected to the respiration monitoring unit, to collect the respiration parameter of the patient from the respiration monitoring unit when the cuff meets the evaluation state and to evaluate an airway status of the patient according to the respiration parameter.

An airway status evaluation apparatus may include: an inflation/deflation unit including an interface, connected to an inflation tube of a tracheal tube, to inflate or deflate a cuff of the tracheal tube through the inflation tube; a pressure sensor connected to the cuff to measure cuff pressure; a connection unit to be in signal connection with a ventilator; and an inflation/deflation control unit, respectively electrically connected to the inflation/deflation unit and a signal output end of the pressure sensor, to control the inflation/deflation unit to inflate and deflate the cuff or output prompt information about inflating or deflating the cuff such that the cuff is inflated to a predetermined pressure or completely deflated, and further electrically connected to the connection unit and communicating with the ventilator through the connection unit so as to receive an inflation/deflation instruction from the ventilator and/or feed back the cuff pressure to the ventilator.

A ventilator may include: a breathing circuit, connected to an exposed end of a catheter of a tracheal tube, to provide a passage for a patient to inhale or exhale gas; a respiration unit to provide mechanical ventilation for the patient, the respiration unit being connected to the breathing circuit; and the airway status evaluation apparatus as any one described above, in which the respiration monitoring unit is connected to the breathing circuit to monitor respiration parameters of the patient.

An airway status evaluation method, using the airway status evaluation apparatus as described above to evaluate the airway status of a patient, may include: controlling the inflation/deflation unit to maintain the cuff at a predetermined pressure when the tracheal tube is in a normal ventilation mode; starting an airway status evaluation procedure based on an instruction from a user; controlling the respiration unit to provide mechanical ventilation at a preset tidal volume for a patient; acquiring a first respiration parameter of exhalation of the patient from a respiration monitoring unit when the cuff is at the predetermined pressure, and the first respiration parameter is a value measured in one respiratory cycle or an average value measured in multiple respiratory cycles; controlling the inflation/deflation unit to completely deflate the cuff; acquiring a second respiration parameter of exhalation of the patient from the respiration monitoring unit after the cuff is completely deflated, and the second respiration parameter is a value measured in one respiratory cycle or an average value measured in multiple respiratory cycles; and evaluating the airway status according to the first and second respiration parameters, and outputting an evaluation result.

An airway status evaluation method, using the airway status evaluation apparatus described above to evaluate the airway status of a patient, may include: controlling the inflation/deflation unit to maintain the cuff at a predetermined pressure when the tracheal tube is in a normal ventilation mode; starting an airway status evaluation procedure based on an instruction from a user; controlling the inflation/deflation unit to completely deflate the cuff; acquiring an inhalation parameter and an exhalation parameter of a patient from the respiration monitoring unit after the cuff is completely deflated, and the inhalation parameter and the exhalation parameter are values measured in one respiratory cycle or average values measured in multiple respiratory cycles; and evaluating the airway status according to the inhalation parameter and the exhalation parameter and outputting the evaluation result.

An airway status evaluation apparatus may include: a unit to control the inflation/deflation unit to maintain the cuff at a predetermined pressure when the tracheal tube is in a normal ventilation mode; a unit to start an airway status evaluation procedure based on an instruction from a user; a unit to control the respiration unit to provide mechanical ventilation at a preset tidal volume for a patient; a unit to acquire a first respiration parameter of exhalation of the patient from a respiration monitoring unit when the cuff is at the predetermined pressure, and the first respiration parameter is a value measured in one respiratory cycle or an average value measured in multiple respiratory cycles; a unit to control the inflation/deflation unit to completely deflate the cuff; a unit to acquire a second respiration parameter of exhalation of the patient from the respiration monitoring unit after the cuff is completely deflated, and the second respiration parameter is a value measured in one respiratory cycle or an average value measured in multiple respiratory cycles; and a unit to evaluate the airway status according to the first and second respiration parameters, and outputting an evaluation result.

An airway status evaluation apparatus may include: a unit to control the inflation/deflation unit to maintain the cuff at a predetermined pressure when the tracheal tube is in a normal ventilation mode; a unit to start an airway status evaluation procedure based on an instruction from a user; a unit to control the inflation/deflation unit to completely deflate the cuff; a unit to acquire an inhalation parameter and an exhalation parameter of a patient from the respiration monitoring unit after the cuff is completely deflated, and the inhalation parameter and the exhalation parameter are values measured in one respiratory cycle or average values measured in multiple respiratory cycles; and a unit to evaluate the airway status according to the inhalation parameter and the exhalation parameter and outputting the evaluation result.

A tracheal intubation device may include: a tracheal tube including a catheter, a cuff, and an inflation tube, the cuff surrounding an outer face of an end of the catheter, and the inflation tube having one end connected to the inside of the cuff, and the other end used to introduce air; and the airway status evaluation apparatus as described above, with the interface of the inflation/deflation unit being connected to the other end of the inflation tube.

One embodiment provides an airway status evaluation method, including: receiving an airway status evaluation instruction from a user; measuring an exhalation parameter of a patient when the cuff of an air tube is respectively in an inflated state and in a deflated state; comparing the exhalation parameter values measured respectively in the inflated state and in the deflated state; and outputting an airway status evaluation prompt according to the comparison result.

An airway status evaluation method may include: receiving an airway status evaluation instruction from a user; measuring an inhalation parameter value and an exhalation parameter value of a patient when the cuff of the air tube is in a deflated state; comparing the measured inhalation parameter value and the measured exhalation parameter value; and outputting an airway status evaluation prompt according to the comparison result.

An airway status evaluation apparatus may include: a receiving unit to receive an airway status evaluation instruction from a user and output an evaluation trigger command; a respiration parameter detection unit, connected to the interface unit, to measure exhalation parameters of a patient when the cuff of the air tube is respectively in an inflated state and in a deflated state after receiving the evaluation trigger command; a respiration parameter comparison unit, connected to the respiration parameter detection unit, to compare the exhalation parameter values measured respectively in the inflated state and in the deflated state; and an evaluation unit, connected to the respiration parameter comparison unit, to give a prompt to output an airway status evaluation prompt according to the comparison result.

An airway status evaluation apparatus may include: a receiving unit to receive an airway status evaluation instruction from a user and output an evaluation trigger command; a respiration parameter detection unit, connected to the interface unit, to measure an inhalation parameter value and an exhalation parameter value of a patient when the cuff of the air tube is in a deflated state after receiving the evaluation trigger command; a respiration parameter comparison unit, connected to the respiration parameter detection unit, to compare the measured inhalation parameter value and the measured exhalation parameter value; and an evaluation unit, connected to the respiration parameter comparison unit, to give a prompt to output an airway status evaluation prompt according to the comparison result.

