Laryngeal-mask construction

• US 5,355,879 A
• Filed: 05/07/1993
• Issued: 10/18/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Teleflex Life Sciences Pte., Ltd. (Teleflex Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Archibald I. Brain
• Inventors: Brain, Archibald I. J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fisher, J. Reed
• Assistant Examiner(s): RACITI, ERIC
• Application Number:
  US08/060,167
• Time in Patent Office: 529 Days
• Field of Search: 128/207.14, 128/207.15, 128/206.26, 128/207.16, 128/200.26, 604/96, 604/97, 604/98, 604/99, 604/100, 604/101, 604/102, 604/103, 604/174
• US Class Current: 128/207.15
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/04 Tracheal tubes catheters in general A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0409 with mean for closing the oesophagus
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0415 with access means to the stomach
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0445 Special cuff forms, e.g. undulated
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0456 one cuff within another
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0459 one cuff behind another
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0463 combined with suction tubes, catheters or the like; Outside connections
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 33/0033 constructed for making articles provided with holes
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 37/0007 using means operable from outside the mould for moving between mould parts, e.g. robots
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 65/00 Joining or sealing of preformed parts , e.g. welding of plastics materials; Apparatus therefor general aspects of processes or apparatus for joining preformed parts B29C66/00; using porous material formed by internal pressure generated therein for joining preformed parts B29C44/1228, B29C44/326
• CPC Class Codes: B29L 2031/7546 Surgical equipment

Abstract

A shell of flexibly pliant material is in peripherally sealed engagement with the inflatable ring portion of a laryngeal mask such that when both the mask ring and the space within the shell are inflated, i.e., after patient installation of the mask in deflated condition, a back cushion is established with large-area self-adapting conformation to the back wall of the pharynx, so that inflation pressure in the back cushion not only positions back contours of the mask per se at offset from the back wall of the pharynx but in addition establishes a large area of uniformly distributed forward pressure on the mask per se, resulting in a pneumatically loaded application of the inflatable ring of the mask, into enhanced sealing conformance to and engagement with the laryngeal inlet.

Claims

1. A laryngeal-mask construction, comprising a backplate member providing in essentially a single plane an apertured base-mounting rim of generally elliptical configuration, an inflatable toroidal ring of flexible material surrounding and continuously connected to said base-mounting rim, and an inflatable back cushion comprising a shell of flexible material adhered generally to the perimeter of said inflatable ring to define said back cushion in conjunction with said mask construction.

2. The construction of claim 1, in which an air passage communicates between said inflatable ring and said inflatable cushion, whereby a single means of inflation and/or deflation can simultaneously serve both said ring and said back cushion.

3. The construction of claim 1, in which said inflatable ring and said inflatable back cushion have independent connections for separate inflation and/or deflation.

4. The construction of claim 1, in which said backplate member and said inflatable toroidal ring are separate components secured to each other.

5. The construction of claim 1, in which said backplate member and said inflatable toroidal ring are integrally connected product components of a single molding operation.

6. The construction of claim 1, in which said back cushion has an effective area which is at least as great as the exposed surface area of said back-plate member at peripheral juncture to said inflatable ring.

7. A laryngeal-mask construction, comprising a backplate member providing in essentially a single geometric plane an apertured base mounting rim of generally elliptical configuration, said back-plate member including an airway- tube connecting formation on an inclined axis that is at an acute angle to said geometric plane, the inclined axis being in a plane which includes the major axis of the elliptical configuration and which is normal to said geometric plane, an inflatable toroidal ring of flexible material surrounding and continuously connected to said base-mounting rim, and an inflatable back cushion comprising a shell of flexible material adhered generally to the perimeter of said inflatable ring and externally sealed around said airway tube connecting formation to define said back cushion in conjunction with said mask construction.

8. The construction of claim 7, in which an air passage communicates between said inflatable ring and said inflatable cushion, whereby a single means of inflation and/or deflation can simultaneously serve both said ring and said back cushion.

9. The construction of claim 7, in which said inflatable ring and said inflatable back cushion have independent connections for separate inflation and/or deflation.

10. The construction of claim 7, in which said back cushion has an effective inflatable area which is at least as great as the exposed surface area of said back-plate member at peripheral juncture to said inflatable ring.

11. The artificial airway device of claim 10, in which an air passage communicates between said inflatable ring and said inflatable cushion, whereby a single means of inflation and/or deflation can simultaneously serve both said ring and said back cushion.

12. The artificial airway device of claim 10, in which said inflatable ring and said inflatable back cushion have independent connections for separate inflation and/or deflation.

13. An artificial airway device to facilitate a patient'"'"'s lung ventilation, comprising an airway tube, an evacuation tube and a laryngeal mask at one end of said tubes, said mask comprising a back-plate member providing in essentially a single geometric plane an apertured base mounting rim of generally elliptical configuration extending from a proximal end to a distal end, said back-plate member including an airway-tube connecting formation on an inclined axis that diverges proximally at an acute angle to said geometric plane, the inclined axis being in a plane which includes the major axis of the elliptical configuration and which is normal to said geometric plane, an inflatable toroidal ring of flexible material surrounding and continuously connected to said base-mounting rim, the distal end of said inflatable ring being configured for entry into and insertional location of the mask by engagement with the oesophagus at the upper sphinctral region of the oesophagus when the mask is positioned for sealing the airway tube to the laryngeal inlet, said evacuation tube including a portion having sealed passage through part of said toroidal ring and having an open distal end centrally within and axially short of the distal end of said ring, and an inflatable back cushion comprising a shell of flexible material adhered generally to the perimeter of said inflatable ring and externally sealed around said airway-tube connecting formation to define said back cushion in conjunction with said mask construction.

14. The artificial airway device of claim 13, in which said back cushion has an effective inflatable area which is at least as great as the exposed surface area of said back-plate member at peripheral juncture to said inflatable ring.

15. The artificial airway device of claim 13, wherein said evacuation tube includes a portion having sealed passage through part of said toroidal ring.