Evaluation of Leak-free Bronchoscope Adapter

Plain-language summary

Patients who develop respiratory failure require the assistance of mechanical ventilation while recovering from their respiratory injury. For example, patients that are affected by COVID-19 can develop such severe respiratory failure that they are unable to breathe on their own and therefore require the assistance of a mechanical ventilator. A Bronchoscope is a tool that can be used to visualize the inside of the lungs to aid in further diagnosis and delivery of therapeutic agents in patients with respiratory disease or failure. However, bronchoscopy can cause air to leak from the patient's lungs into the room due to a poorly designed adapter that is required to facilitate the introduction of the bronchoscope into the lungs. This leak can lead to the patient losing oxygen during the procedure which can be harmful to the patient and delay or limit recovery. Additionally, the air that leaks can lead to the spread of bacteria/viruses into the ambient air, which can contaminate the intensive care unit and expose other patients and healthcare workers to harmful pathogens. This was highlighted most recently during the COVID-19 pandemic where national guidelines limited the use of bronchoscopy in patients affected by the virus due to concerns about spreading the virus within the hospital and to the healthcare workers. In this study, the investigators will evaluate the efficacy of a novel adapter that avoids air leakage during bronchoscopy. Patients with respiratory failure on mechanical ventilation who require bronchoscopy will be randomized into two groups (groups A and B). These patients will be identified by the intensive care unit physician. Informed consent will be obtained from the patient's health care proxy. Patients in group A will undergo bronchoscopy using the standard commercially available adapter. Patients in group B will undergo bronchoscopy using the newly developed bronchoscope adapter. The efficacy of the bronchoscopy adapter will be evaluated by analyzing ventilator-associated parameters as well as the level of air contamination after the procedure. A bronchoscope adapter that limits air leak would have significant value in improving patient outcomes who receive bronchoscopy. Additionally, this would allow bronchoscopy to be more readily performed in patients with potential bacterial/viral pathogen spread. Primary objective: Determination of equivalency or superiority of the new "leak-free adapter" compared to the standard commercial adapter to enable safe bronchoscopy in ventilated patients requiring bronchoscopy. Secondary objective: To determine if the adapter provides improved ventilation during bronchoscopy by limiting tidal volume loss and pathogen aerosolization.

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