I-Corps: Flow regulated nasal oxygen delivery device

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种医疗设备，用于监测接受鼻腔插管氧疗的患者的呼吸，并根据监测仪的测量结果自动调整呼吸机设置。目前，许多医院的鼻插管患者很少被检查，因为与正压通气治疗的患者相比，他们的病情相对较轻，而且目前的插管设备无法监测患者的呼吸机。总而言之，这导致由于人员短缺而延误护理，以及由于缺乏早期预警系统或任何可量化的患者数据而导致的结果恶化。一种旨在监测插管患者的氧气需求并自动对患者氧气需求的增加/减少做出反应的设备，可能会改善医院的结果，并使医院能够在呼吸治疗师人手短缺的情况下改善患者的结果。这个i-Corps项目是基于一种方法的开发，该方法基于呼吸过程中鼻子内的压力测量来非侵入性地估计通过患者鼻腔的空气流量。使用一种特殊设计的插管，能够在手术中进行这些测量，该方法可以用来估计患者在氧疗期间吸入的空气量。对这些容量的成功估计需要仔细的数据处理和关于人体鼻道中气压和流量之间关系的详细信息。一台原型装置被展示出来，可以测量人体模型中的吸气量，精确度在毫升量级，精确度在5%左右。这些结果表明，拟议的技术可以应用到商业医疗设备中，能够监测接受鼻腔吸氧治疗的患者的呼吸状态并对其做出反应。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a medical device for monitoring the ventilation of patients receiving oxygen therapy by nasal cannula, and for autonomously adjusting ventilator settings based on the measurements of the monitor. Currently, nasal cannula patients in many hospitals are checked infrequently due to their relative non-severity compared to patients treated with positive pressure ventilation, and current cannula devices have no way to monitor patient ventilation. Taken together, this leads to delayed care due to staffing shortages and worsening outcomes due to the lack of an early warning system or any quantifiable patient data. A device that is designed to monitor the oxygen demands of cannula patients and autonomously react to increases/decreases in patient oxygen demands may improve outcomes in hospitals and enable hospitals to improve patient outcomes in the face of respiratory therapist staffing shortages. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a method for noninvasively estimating the flowrate of air through a patient’s nasal passage based on pressure measurements taken inside the nose during respiration. Using a specially designed cannula capable of taking these measurements during operation, the method may be used to estimate the volumes of air inspired by the patient during oxygen therapy. Successful estimation of these volumes requires careful data processing and detailed information about the relationship between air pressure and flow in the human nasal passage. A prototype device was shown to measure the inspired volumes of air in a mannequin with precision in the order of milliliters and accuracy in the order of 5%. These results indicate that the proposed technology may be implemented into a commercial medical device capable of monitoring and reacting to changes in the respiratory status of patients receiving oxygen therapy via nasal cannula.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.