Endotracheal tube mounted pressure transducer

Abstract

The present invention provides an endotracheal breathing tube useful in patient ventilation that has a distally mounted pressure sensor transducer. The endotracheal breathing tube of the present invention has distal and proximal ends with the distal end being configured for emplacement at a preselected area of a patient's trachea and further has multiple interior passages with a first passage useful for providing a flow path for ventilation therapy gas being provided to the ventilated patient and for providing a flow path for removal of exhalation gases. A second passage is utilized by a pair of optical fibers for optical signal transmission to and from a pressure transducer disposed within the second passage near the distal end of the breathing tube. The second passage and the first passage communicate through an opening between the two passages such that the pressure transducer is exposed to the pressure within the distal end of the endotracheal breathing tube, which in turn is substantially equal to the gas pressure outside the endotracheal tube and thus to the gas pressure at the bronchi of the patient. The gas pressure sensed by the pressure transducer and any changes therein are transmitted substantially instantaneously to a ventilator that calculates the instantaneous pressure and provides a real time sensing of the pressure in the patient's lungs and any subsequent changes therein.