Endotracheal tube with liquid fillable cuff

Claim 2

A tracheal tube device comprising a tube sized for introduction of air through the trachea into the lungs of a living being, a cuff member surrounding and secured to said tube and adapted to be filled with liquid to cause extension of said cuff into sealing contact with tracheal tissue about said cuff to create a seal between said tube and the trachea and a filling lumen extending proximally from said cuff for communication with a source of filling liquid, the improvement wherein said cuff comprises a material which in the presence of said liquid is permeable to air and substantially nonpermeable to said liquid at the normal pressure said liquid exerts upon the interior of said cuff while creating said seal.

Claim 3

the tracheal device of claim 1 wherein said cuff material is a hydrophobic cellular plastic.

Claim 4

The tracheal device of claim 2 wherein said cuff material comprises expanded polytetrafluoroethylene having an open cell construction.

Claim 5

The tracheal tube device of claim 2 wherein said plastic cuff-forming material is heat-sealed to said tube at the proximal and distal regions of said cuff.

Claim 6

A ready-to-use tracheal assembly comprising a tracheal tube in accordance with claim 1 in combination with a syringe filled with water, joined together in a common package.

Claim 7

The tracheal device of claim 1 wherein said cuff material has a predetermined breakthrough pressure to said liquid (i.e., the pressure above which said liquid can substantially pass through the material of said cuff) less than the probable tissue-damaging pressure.

Claim 8

The tracheal tube device according to claim 1 in combination with a filling means which includes a collapsible, non-pressure applying filling container connected to the proximal end of said filling lumen, to communicate therethrough with said cuff, said container, lumen and cuff comprising a closed liquid system, said lumen and container extending a predetermined distance from said cuff enabling the container to be vertically spaced a distance equal substantially to the predetermined gravity head pressure to be exerted on the tracheal wall by said cuff when there is no aIr pressure differential across the trachea, said system, when said container is raised above said cuff capable of permitting free flow of liquid from said container into said cuff under influence substantially only of the gravity head, with attendant non-pressure applying partial collapse of said container.

Claim 9

The assembly of claim 7 wherein said collapsible container comprises a collapsible bag formed of flaccid material.

Claim 10

The assembly of claim 8 wherein said bag is defined by flexible plastic sheet.

Claim 11

The assembly of claim 7 wherein said container extends less than 25 cm from said cuff and said closed liquid system is adapted to contain water.

Claim 12

The device of claim 1 wherein said liquid includes surface-effective anesthetic, the normal operating pressure within said cuff being below the effective break-through pressure at which said anesthetic can pass through said material (i.e., the pressure above which said liquid including said anesthetic can substantially pass through the material of said cuff), and the material of the cuff selected so that elevating the pressure within said cuff above said break-through pressure is effective to apply said anesthetic to said tracheal tissue.