Patent Application
20180353723
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The disclosure and prior art relates to oxygen devices and more particularly pertains to a new oxygen device for coupling an oxygen source and a CO2 monitor to a laryngeal mask airway.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a laryngeal mask airway that is inserted into a patient undergoing general anesthesia. An oxygen tube is fluidly coupled to an oxygen source to deliver gaseous oxygen and a CO2 monitor is provided to detect and monitor a flow of carbon dioxide. A coupler is selectively and fluidly coupled to the laryngeal mask airway. The coupler is selectively and fluidly coupled to the oxygen source to direct the gaseous oxygen into the laryngeal mask airway. Moreover, the coupler is in fluid communication with the CO2 monitor to monitor a flow of carbon dioxide that is exhaled through the laryngeal mask airway.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
An oxygen tube 20 is provided and the oxygen tube 20 is fluidly coupled to an oxygen source 22 to deliver gaseous oxygen. The oxygen source 22 may be a tank of compressed, gaseous oxygen or the like. A CO2 monitor 24 is provided to detect and monitor a flow of carbon dioxide. The CO2 monitor 24 may be an electronic CO2 monitor 24 commonly employed in a surgical environment.
A coupler 26 is provided and the coupler 26 is selectively and fluidly coupled to the laryngeal mask airway 12. The coupler 26 is selectively and fluidly coupled to the oxygen source 22 to direct the gaseous oxygen into the laryngeal mask airway 12. Additionally, the coupler 26 is in fluid communication with the CO2 monitor 24. In this way the CO2 monitor 24 may monitor a flow of carbon dioxide that is exhaled through the laryngeal mask airway 12.
The coupler 26 comprises a body 28 that has a first end 30, a second end 32 and an outer wall 34 extending therebetween. The body 28 has a first aperture 36 extending through the first end 30 and the second end 32. The first aperture 36 corresponding to the second end 32 insertably receives the first end 18 of the tube 16. Additionally, the body 28 has a second aperture 38 extending through the first end 30 and the second end 32.
The second aperture 38 corresponding to the second end 32 insertably receives the oxygen tube 20. In this way the second aperture 38 directs the gaseous oxygen outwardly through the first end 30 of the coupler. The outer wall 34 of the body 28 may undulate between the first 36 and second 38 apertures such that the body has a figure eight cross section taken along a line extending through the first 30 and second 32 ends of the body 28. Additionally, the first aperture 36 may have a diameter that is greater than a diameter of the second aperture 38.
A hood 40 is coupled to and extends away from the first end 18 of the body 28. The hood 40 has an inside surface 42 and the inside surface 42 is concavely arcuate with respect to the first end 18. The hood 40 has an open end 44 and a closed end 46 and hood 40 slopes upwardly between the closed end 46 and the open end 44. The closed end 46 surrounds the second aperture 38 to direct the gaseous oxygen toward the open end 44. Moreover, the open end 44 is aligned with the first aperture 36 corresponding to the second end 32 to facilitate the gaseous oxygen to mix with ambient air. Thus, the mixture of gaseous oxygen and ambient air is drawn through the tube 16 when the patient 14 inhales. The hood 40 additionally inhibit foreign objects from falling into the tube 16
A conduit 48 is coupled to the outer wall 34 of the body 28. The conduit 48 extends into the first aperture 36 such that the conduit 48 is in fluid communication with the first aperture 36. The conduit 48 has a primary end 50 and the primary end 50 is open to receive a hose 52 from the CO2 monitor 24. In this way the CO2 monitor 24 receives exhaled breath from the patient 14 for analysis. The coupler 26 may be a unitary structure with respect to the laryngeal mask airway 12 and the coupler 26 may be retro-fitted to existing laryngeal mask airways 12.
In use, the patient 14 is intubated with the laryngeal mask airway 12 when the patient 14 has undergone general anesthesia. The first end 18 of the tube 16 is plugged into the first aperture 36, the oxygen tube 20 is plugged into the second aperture 38 and the hose 52 from the CO2 monitor 24 is plugged into the primary end 50 of the conduit 48. The hood 40 directs the flow of gaseous oxygen toward the first aperture 36 to be inhaled by the patient 14. Additionally, the open end 44 of the hood 40 facilitates the gaseous oxygen to be mixed with ambient air. The patient 14 exhales through the first aperture 36 and the CO2 monitor 24 monitors the exhaled air. The coupler 26 is discarded when the laryngeal mask airway 12 is removed from the patient 14.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, system and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
