Dispositivo mecânico que promove insuflação e exsuflação pulmonar

Abstract

The cough is an important means of pulmonary defense as we are led to pathological situations, with progressive accumulation of secretion in the tracheobronchial tree. Patients with neuromuscular pathologies are prone to recurrent infections in the respiratory system due to the excessive and permanent accumulation of secretion (mucociliary clearance inefficiency) resulting from the deficiency of the coughing mechanism and from the inability to keep an adequate pulmonary volume. Patients having trouble with mucociliary clearance need respiratory physiotherapy which consists of manual or mechanicaltechniques that help the pulmonary mechanism, aiming at an effectual cough and an adequate pulmonary volume. There are patient-supportive procedures which are meant to help patients while they cough, and such cough is assisted manually and mechanically. Among those procedures, one that promotes the best results in patients with ineffectual cough makes use of a mechanical system that favors the maximum insufflation movement, followed by exsufflation, allowing mechanically-assisted cough. Its widely proven efficiency aside, the only device existing on the market is imported and has a high price, thus making it harder for patients to have access to it. Within that context there was the need to design a device to mechanically assist the cough. We show here the development of a mechanical device capable of generating high respiratory flow (outflow) of up to 10¯¹ m³ / s through fast variation of positive pressure of up to 7x104 Pa to a negative pressure of upto 7x104 Pa, according to literature, through the face or the mouth, simulating the mechanism of coughing. This system is fed by a conventional pneumatic system, its exit being conditioned to a series of pneumatic devices, making sure of the use of an aseptic environment and observing the safety of the patient. The prototype reached the positive and negative levels of pressure used by literature for the treatment of patients with ineffectual coughing, and a fast variation of positive pressure to negative could be observed, which is essential to the treatments efficiency.