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Background
Background
A tracheostomy is a common procedure in which a breathing tube is directly connected to a patient's trachea through an orifice in the neck. In America, approximately 85,000 patients each year receive a tracheostomy for a variety of issues and complications that requires ventilation support.¹ One of the most preventable and damaging side effects of a tracheostomy are pressure ulcers.
Due to prolonged pressure of the tube on the surface of a patient’s neck, these ulcers can lead to skin/tissue degradation and possibly infection, extending the patient’s need for further medical care. Though pressure ulcers can be prevented by constantly monitoring and maintaining the exact position of the tracheostomy tube, there may exist less demanding solutions to address this side effect.
Objective
Objective
Dr. Andrew Vahabzadeh-Hagh, an otolaryngologist and surgeon at UC San Diego Health, recognized this highly preventable problem and proposed a support device that would be able to relieve the pressure of the tracheostomy tube on the neck skin of the patient.
The objective of our project was to design and fabricate an inflatable device which is capable of dynamically adjusting the position of the tube, based on feedback from a force sensor on the patient's neck.
Design
Design
The final design of our device has three main components:
An inflatable balloon that rests on the patient's chest and lifts the tracheostomy tube
A force-sensing resistor to detect changes in pressure experienced by the patient
A controller that dynamically adjusts the amount of inflation to minimize that pressure
Below are rendered images of the entire system in position. A more detailed technical description of the project can be found on the Final Design page.
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