I-Corps: Tri-functional (feeding, venting, sensing) tube for premature infants

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a tri-functional (feeding, venting, and sensing) tube for premature infants. The long-term health of children born prematurely is a major national and international concern. Each year more than 15 million infants globally, and 350,000 infants in the US are born prematurely. High-quality clinical research has driven huge advances in prenatal care and allowed intervention to become the standard of care at gestations that were considered incompatible with survival just 20-30 years ago. Infants born at 22-23 weeks of gestation, weighing 400-500 grams are now routinely admitted for intensive care intervention. Respiratory failure remains the primary cause of mortality and morbidity in extremely premature newborns, yet physiologic monitoring of respiratory status has not advanced since the introduction of oxygen saturation monitoring in the 1980s. The proposed tri-functional tube may provide value by continuously monitoring vital signs while simultaneously feeding and venting the extremely preterm infant in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), avoiding the need for skin-mounted sensors, which are an irritant to newborn skin and produce unreliable readings due to poor contact. Current healthcare costs to society potentially may be reduced using this tri-functional tube technology.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a tri-functional (feeding, venting, and sensing) tube for premature infants. This technology integrates three functionalities for the first time: delivering milk feeds to the stomach, venting excess gas from the stomach (a by-product of non-invasive modes of ventilation), and multifunctional vital sign monitoring such as electrocardiogram (ECG), transdiaphragmatic pressure, and body core temperature. The tri-functional tube design has evolved through multiple iterations based on clinical needs and engineering input. Extensive literature and product reviews, as well as testing results, have defined optimal sensor locations and configurations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.