Development of the Portable Intubation Boxes with a New Technology of Negative Pressure and High-level Filter for Tracheal Intubation, during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, not only emergency physicians but also all healthcare workers faced the risk of nosocomial infection. In our hospital, all the physicians, including anesthesiologists and intensivists, performed tracheal intubation on COVID-19 patients. Initially, an open-type intubation box was used for the tracheal intubation of COVID-19 patients to prevent infection and spread of contamination to the surrounding area, but problems, such as aerosol leakage to the surrounding area, arose. Therefore, we had to find a new strategy for intubation and develop a new device. Faced with such a situation, Toho University, in collaboration with a dust mask company, has developed a disposable intubation box with a high-performance filter that adds a strong negative pressure. In this paper, we would like to summarize the development process from the perspective of nosocomial infection prevention.