GB2591238A

GB2591238A - An apparatus to maintain an airway

Info

Publication number: GB2591238A
Application number: GB2000859.5A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Singatullin Marat
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2020-01-21
Filing date: 2020-01-21
Publication date: 2021-07-28
Also published as: GB202000859D0

Abstract

An apparatus to maintain an airway comprising a tongue restraining element having: an upper portion; a bend; a distal portion; a mouth retaining flange extending from the upper portion; and at least one hole in the side wall of the distal portion to facilitate nasal gaseous flow 401. The device allows for introduces nasal oxygen to a patient while using a tongue positioning device. There may be elongated holes on the upper and/or lower surfaces of the tube, and the elongated holes may be separated by a rib section. The tongue restraining element may be a tube with an oval cross section, to also facilitate oral airflow 107. There may be circular holes in the first and second side edges of the tube. The distal portion may have a larger cross-sectional area than the upper portion.

Description

An Apparatus to Maintain an Airway

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is the first application for a patent directed towards the invention and the subject matter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus to maintain an airway, comprising: a tongue-restraining element having an upper portion, a bend and a distal portion; and a mouth-retaining flange extending from an open end of said upper portion.

It is known to provide an oropharyngeal airway, also known as a Guedel pattern airway, in which a tongue-restraining element has an upper portion, a bend and a distal portion; with a mouth-retaining flange extending from an open end of the upper portion. The airway is essentially a tube and thereby allows an unconscious patient to breathe through the mouth without the risk of the airway becoming obstructed by the patient's tongue.

Increasingly, as an alternative to relying upon air ventilation through the mouth, nasal techniques are being introduced, such as transnasal humidified rapid-nsufflation ventilatory exchange (THRIVE) which is performed using a non-invasive nasal device to secure an airway. With this approach, high flow nasal oxygen enters the nose of a patient at rates in excess of sixty litres per minute. Manual intervention may be required to ensure that the patient's tongue does not block the airway. However, the introduction of an oropharyngeal airway, as a means of restraining the tongue, introduces further problems in that its presence tends to restrict nasal flow.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus to maintain an airway, comprising: a tongue-restraining element having an upper portion, a bend and a distal portion; a mouth-retaining flange extending from an open end of said upper portion; and one or more side-wall holes within a side wall of said distal portion to facilitate nasal gaseous flow.

Embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. The detailed embodiments show the best mode known to the inventor and provide support for the invention as claimed. However, they are only exemplary and should not be used to interpret or limit the scope of the claims. Their purpose is to provide a teaching to those skilled in the art. Components and processes distinguished by ordinal phrases such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily define an order or ranking of any sort.

BREIF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows a known oropharyngeal airway; Figure 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in the form of a tongue-restraining device; Figure 3 shows a further embodiment facilitating both nasal and oral air flow; Figure 4 shows deployment of the apparatus shown in Figure 3; Figure 5 shows a second alternative embodiment; Figure 6 shows a third alternative embodiment; Figure 7 shows a fourth alternative embodiment; and Figure 8 shows a fifth alternative embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Figure 1 A known oropharyngeal airway 101 is shown in Figure 1. This represents an apparatus configured to maintain an airway and comprises a tongue-restraining element with an upper portion 102, a bend, 103 and a distal portion 104. In addition, a retaining flange 105 is provided extending from an upper end 106 of the upper portion 102, to retain the apparatus in position. The apparatus essentially consists of a tube to maintain the airway open, such that natural breathing is facilitated as indicated by first arrow 107 and a second arrow 108.

In its traditional application, the airway of Figure 1 facilitates breathing through the mouth. However, increasingly, a nasal introduction of high flow oxygen is being adopted, the operation of which is not facilitated by the introduction of the oropharyngeal airway. In particular, and as indicated at a first location 109, the presence of the oropharyngeal airway may restrict nasal flow and, in extreme cases, block nasal flow.

Thus, a problem exists in that the absence of the oropharyngeal airway may cause breathing difficulties due to an inappropriate positioning of the tongue. However, the introduction of an appropriate airway to position the tongue correctly, may then in turn restrict or block the introduction of nasal oxygen. Thus, further manual intervention may be required, which in turn increases the requirement for real-time decisions to be made during emergency conditions.

Figure 2 The present invention also provides an apparatus to maintain an airway, and again, has a tongue-restraining element with an upper portion 202, a bend 203 and a distal portion 204. A retaining flange 205 is provided, extending from an upper end 206 of the upper portion 202. In this embodiment, the tongue-restraining element may be of a substantially solid construction or it may be tubular as disclosed in other embodiments. The purpose of this device is to restrain a patient's tongue while maintaining nasal flow.

To facilitate nasal flow, one or more holes are provided within a wall of the distal portion. Thus, in the embodiment of Figure 2, a first hole 211 is provided along with a second hole 212, such that it is possible for the flow of air to take place in the direction of a third arrow 213.

In the embodiment of Figure 2, the first hole 211 consists of a first hole portion 211A and a second first hole portion 211B, separated by a rib 214.

Similarly, the second hole 212 also consists of a first hole portion 212A and a second hole portion 212B, again separated by a similar rib 215.

Thus, in an embodiment, the apparatus has a plurality of holes in the distal portion, such that gas received at the nasal cavity enters a first of these holes and exits a second of these holes, as indicated by third arrow 213.

Figure 3 It can be appreciated that the device described with reference to Figure 1 facilitates oral airflow, whereas the device described with respect to Figure 2 facilitates nasal airflow. A further embodiment is shown in Figure 3 that is configured to facilitate both oral airflow and nasal airflow.

In the embodiment of Figure 3, a distal portion 304 is substantially hollow, to define a bottom opening 311, such that gaseous flow occurs between one or more holes present within the wall of the distal portion and the bottom opening 310.

In the embodiment of Figure 3, a first hole 311 is provided, such that nasal airflow is possible between the first hole 311 and the bottom opening 310. In the embodiment of Figure 3, the whole of the tongue-retraining element is a tube 331, to facilitate oral flow, in a way substantially similar to that described with reference to Figure 1. Similarly, to facilitate insertion, the tube 331 has a substantially oval cross-section.

Figure 4 Deployment of the device, described with reference to Figure 3, is illustrated in Figure 4. Using the tube-based device of Figure 3 (as distinct from the solid device described with reference to Figure 2) oral gaseous flow is maintained, as indicated by first arrow 107 and second arrow 108. However, in addition, nasal airflow is also possible, as indicated by a fourth arrow 401.

Figure 5 A further embodiment is shown in Figure 5, in which a substantially oval tube 501 defines an upper surface 502, a lower surface 503, a first side edge 504 and a second side edge 505. As shown in Figure 5, the upper surface 502 and the lower surface 503 have a larger radius of curvature compared to the first side edge 504 and a second side edge 505, thereby defining an oval cross-section.

First elongated holes 511 are provided in the upper surface 502, parallel to a tubular axis 512. In addition, in the embodiment of Figure 5, second elongated holes 513 are provided in the lower surface 503, again parallel to the tubular axis 512.

In the embodiment of Figure 5, an adjacent pair of elongated holes 513A/513B are separated by a rib 515, in which the thickness of the rib 515 is less that the width of the elongated holes on either side. This particular shape of hole has been selected to minimise air resistance and hence maximise airflow, while minimising the risk of soft tissue being accidently introduced into the hole.

The embodiment of Figure 5 also provides additional circular holes 516 in the first side edge 504 and in the second side edge 505 of the distal portion.

The introduction of the additional circular holes 516 creates further opportunities for airflow to take place, even in situations where the device may have been incorrectly inserted or in situations where some of the larger holes 511, 513 may have become blocked due to the presence of soft tissue.

Figure 6 An alternative embodiment is shown in Figure 6, in which a first row of small circular holes 601 are provided in the upper surface 502. Holes 601 may be substantially similar to holes 516 and may have a diameter of between two millimetres and four millimetres. In this embodiment, a second row of holes 602 are provided in the lower surface 503. The size of the holes in the second row 602 may be substantially similar to the size of the holes in the first row 601.

Figure 7 An embodiment similar to that described with reference to Figure 6 is shown in Figure 7. In the embodiment of Figure 7, the first row of holes 60 has be replaced by two parallel rows of holes 701 on the upper surface. Similarly, the second row of holes 602 has been replaced by a second set of two parallel rows of holes 702.

Figure 8 A further embodiment is illustrated in Figure 8, in which a distal portion 801 has a larger cross-sectional area than the cross-sectional area of an upper portion 802. Again, the device is provided with first elongated holes 803 on an upper surface 604, along with second elongated holes 605 on a lower surface 606. Again, each edge surface is provided with additional circular holes 606. Thus, the embodiment is similar to that described with reference to Figure 5 but with an expanded distal portion.

The device is tubular, such that conventional oral airflow is facilitated as indicated by a fifth arrow 815 and a sixth arrow 816. In addition, nasal airflow is facilitated as indicated by a seventh arrow 817 and an eighth arrow 814.

Claims

CLAIMSThe invention claimed is: 1. An apparatus to maintain an airway, comprising: a tongue-restraining element having an upper portion, a bend and a distal portion; a retaining flange extending from an open end of said upper portion; and one or more holes within a wall of said distal portion to facilitate nasal gaseous flow.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a plurality of holes in said distal portion, such that gas received at the nasal cavity may enter a first of said holes and exit a second of said holes.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said distal portion is substantially hollow, to define a bottom opening, such that a gaseous flow occurs between one or more of said holes and said bottom opening.
4. The apparatus of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the whole of the tongue-restraining element is a tube, to facilitate oral gas flow.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said tube has a substantially oval cross section.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said oval tube defines an upper surface, a lower surface, a first side edge and a second side edge, wherein said upper surface and said lower surface have a larger radius of curvature that said side edges.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein elongated holes are provided in said upper surface, substantially parallel to a tubular axis.
8. The apparatus of claim 6 or claim 7, wherein elongated holes are provided in said lower surface, parallel to said tubular axis.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein an adjacent pair of said elongated holes are separated by a rib section, in which the thickness of said rib section is less than the width of a said elongated hole.
10. The apparatus of any of claims 6 to 9, wherein circular holes are provided in said first side edge.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein circular holes are provided in said second side edge.
12. The apparatus of any of claims Ito 11, wherein said distal portion has a larger cross-sectional area than the cross-sectional area of said upper portion.