Project Description: 

Oral mucositis is a serious and debilitating disease that impacts up to forty-percent of chemotherapy patients. Chemotherapy attacks rapidly dividing cells lining the mouth, resulting in painful lesions and mouth sores. This can not only affect a patient’s speech and nutrition, but higher grades of oral mucositis can also lead to life-threatening, potentially fatal, infections for these immunocompromised patients. The current prevention method is eating ice before, during, and after the chemotherapy infusion. The major problems with this treatment are inconsistent and uneven temperature distribution, lack of hands-free use, and discomfort, especially from contact of ice with sensitive areas such as teeth. Our solution is the CryoBalloon. It is a cryotherapy flow device that circulates ice-cold saline or water through a balloon structure to cool the inside of the mouth. The design allows for even temperature distribution, hands-free use, and limited teeth sensitivity. The CryoBalloon lowers the temperature of the inside of the mouth below 25℃, promoting vasoconstriction of the blood vessels, which prevents the destruction of the inner lining of the mouth. This is how our device aids in preventing oral mucositis.