Team 14: Thoracic Lavage Adapter

Hypothermia is clinically defined as a drop in core body temperature below 35°C (Brown et al., 2012). While external rewarming suffices for mild cases, active internal rewarming via thoracic lavage is indicated for severe hypothermia (below 30°C) and moderate hypothermia (30–34°C) when a perfusing rhythm is absent. At these extreme temperatures, cardiac output is severely impaired; however, metabolic deceleration extends the viability window, necessitating aggressive internal rewarming to restore normal physiological function.

Thoracic lavage is an internal warming procedure used to treat patients with severe or moderate hypothermia. This method involves injecting warm saline solution from an IV bag into the patient's chest cavity area via a chest tube. The solution is then drained after a period of time (usually with a second chest tube). This process is repeated several times until the patient is sufficiently warmed. 

The procedure currently faces 2 major problems:

1. There is currently no commercially standard connection between IV tubing and chest tubing.

2. The second chest tube used to drain fluids adds an additional incision into the patient and interferes with chest compressions

A single-use, plastic 3-way stopcock designed with an ISO standard Luer lock and 2 tapered and barbed connection ends that allows for seamless connection between IV tubing, chest tubing and waste bag suction tubing. The tapered inlet and outlets accommodate a wide range of chest tubes from 24-34 French (8-11.33mm) for a variety of patient sizes. Our integrated control valve allows for the same chest tube to instill and drain fluid. Two main valve positions will be used during the operation with position 1 being used when instilling fluid and position 2 being used when draining fluid.