Manufacturing and Design Improvements of an Everting Airway Device Prototype

Airway management is critical to patient survival in cases of cardiac arrest, drug overdose, and trauma. In 2021, there were nearly 150,000 reported cases of out of hospital cardiac arrest with over 90 % leading to death. Current methods of establishing airways in response to cardiac arrest require a high level of expertise, and improper use can result in serious side-effects and death. This poses a need for a safer emergency airway device. Our solution is based on everting vine robots, which are pressurized tubes that passively navigate via tip extension. This paper aims to evaluate whether our Everting Airway Device (EAD) prototype can deploy into the airway at safe pressures with effective sealing. Our device was made with novel material sealing techniques and sealing feature design. The deployed sealing efficacy and minimum pressure required during deployment were measured within a 0.9” diameter straight chamber. The ability of the tube to passively navigate the airway was tested by observing deployment patterns into an anatomically accurate, rigid 3D-printed airway derived from the Advanced Joint Airway Management Simulator. The insertion forces of the device into an airway phantom are similar to those of market devices, ranging from 20–39 N. The sealing cuffs can provide adequate sealing at the same pressure values similar to manual insertion market airway devices, which have a recommended sealing pressure of 120 cmH
2
0. The proposed Everting Airway Device design shows promise for future refinement and integration with automated deployment mechanisms and breath delivery systems.