Importance

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Abstract

A processor based method of measuring and regulating the pressure in the inflatable sealing cuff of a tracheal tube introduced into the trachea of a patient, for generating a constant contact pressure of the sealing cuff against the trachea for the purpose of producing gas-tight respiration for the patient and avoiding the aspiration of fluids from the patient's oral cavity into his breathing passages. The processor receives the actual value of the pressure existing in the sealing cuff as measured by a pressure sensor, detects large and steep increases in pressure in the sealing cuff that deviate from a nominal pressure in the sealing cuff, and interprets the pressure increases as predicting a subsequent widening of the trachea which will result in a decrease of the pressure in the sealing cuff. The processor provisionally increases the pressure in the sealing cuff by adding air for a limited and defined period of time and thereafter regulates the pressure in the sealing cuff gradually toward the original nominal pressure.

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First Claim