Importance

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Abstract

An improved endotracheal tube provides an inflatable cuff having a concavely shaped superior surface forming a collection basin and means to facilitate accurate suctioning of the basin while the tube is in position. In the preferred embodiment the means to facilitate accurate suctioning of the collection basin takes the form of a guide wire having one end attached within the basin and the other end terminating freely outside the body of the patient, thus enabling a suction catheter to be slideably moved along the guide wire and into the basin to remove substances collected therein. The preferred embodiment further includes means to releasably secure the free end of the guide wire when not in use. Alternative means to facilitate accurate suctioning include the provision of a separate passageway having a first end external to the body of the patient for connection to a suctioning means and a second end terminating within the basin. This separate passageway may either be bonded along at least a portion of the ventilation tube or provided as a lumen extending within at least a portion of the wall of the ventilation tube.

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First Claim