A simple pressure relief valve to prevent increases in endotracheal tube cuff pressure and volume in intubated patients

Abstract

Recent experiments in vitro and in patients with endotracheal tubes in place have demonstrated that oxygen and anesthetic gases diffuse into endotracheal tube cuffs more rapidly than the nitrogen of the air filled cuffs diffuses out. The authors have designed a simple variable pressure relief valve, which has prevented increases in cuff volume and pressure and maintained cuff seal in 39 anesthetized patients during operations lasting as long as six hours.