Project Description:

Every year, 15.6 million people undergo intubation when they have difficulty breathing independently. This procedure involves an ICU staff team inserting an endotracheal tube down the patient’s trachea. A provider places the tube with the help of a rigid stylet to keep the tube stiff. Once the tube is placed, the staff needs to determine the correct placement which is 2-5 cm from the carina (the point at which the trachea branches to the two bronchi). The current golden standard for confirming tube placement is using a mobile chest x-ray machine. Not only does this expose patients to radiation comparable to 10 days from the environment, but it also prolongs the process up to an hour and hinders care. This is why Team E.T. has developed the ElectroTrach, a redesigned smart stylet equipped with millimeter waves to detect the carina and ensure correct placement during the intubation process. Much like a collision warning system in your car, ElectroTrach has a transmitter and receiver at the end of a rigid stylet that sends millimeter waves to the carina which is then bounced off and read by the receiver. A system then processes these signals continuously as the tube is traveling through the trachea to give feedback on the location of the tube. The feedback system has a display screen showing the distance and a light system for easy visual feedback. The tube system was tested by medical and non-medical participants, and their time and accuracy were recorded. Further development is needed to create a working to-scale model with the human trachea.