Importance

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Abstract

A tracheal T-tube stent is formed from a flexible, resiliently yieldable material and has a hollow, open-ended tubular body portion which is coaxially insertable into the trachea through a suitable neck incision, and a transverse tubular portion which projects outwardly through the incision and has a small side wall opening therein. The distal end portion of a small inflation lumen having an air inlet check valve fitting at its proximal end is extended inwardly through the side wall opening, runs inwardly along the interior side surface of the transverse tube portion and upwardly along the interior side surface of the top end of the body portion, and is connected at its distal end to an inflation balloon disposed within the top end of the T-tube body. With the T-tube in place within the trachea, and the balloon deflated, the T-tube functions as an ordinary tracheal stent to hold the trachea open and permit normal patient breathing. By simply inflating the balloon the upper tube body end is internally occluded, thereby permitting the T-tube to be utilized as a ventilator fitting when desired. In this manner, the conventional use of a curved tracheostomy tube, with its attendant tracheal scarring, may be advantageously eliminated.

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First Claim