Abstract:
An oro-pharyngeal apparatus defining both a suction conduit adapted to receive an operative connection to a suction pump for removing liquids from a patient&#39;s throat and at least one airway through which the patient can breath during medical or dental treatment. The invention allows simultaneous use of the suction conduit and airway. Alternately, an oxygen pump can be connected to the conduit for insufflation of the patient. The airway is provided with a color coded ring to indicate a pre-determined size of the airway to accommodate various sized individuals. The device is fabricated by gas assisted injection molding techniques.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to an oro-pharyngeal airway and more specifically provides an airway operable to permit fluids, mucous, blood or vomitus material to be removed from the pharynx without the removal of the airway from the patient&#39;s mouth, to permit insufflation of the patient&#39;s lungs and to permit normal breathing on the part of the patient while the airway is in place.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    The prior art includes a number of airway designs operable for providing an airway into a patient&#39;s throat area to permit air to enter and escape during normal breathing. However, during certain medical conditions, such as following general anesthesia, comatose, emergency conditions or in newborns, it is necessary to develop suction in the patient&#39;s throat to remove fluids, mucous, blood or vomitus material. In using most of the prior art airways, the airway must be removed and a catheter tube inserted in the throat area to perform the suction operation. Also, most prior art airways must be removed before insufflation of a patient can be effected, unless an oxygen mask or nasal oxygen tube is used. Although certain prior art airways provide a passageway for insertion of a suction tube to evacuate the throat or pharynx almost none has provided an integral suction passageway for connection to an external suction apparatus or oxygen supply.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Briefly, the present invention comprises a suction airway defining a breathing passageway as well as conduit for connection to either a suction means or an oxygen supply means which can be easily attached to the conduit without removing the airway.  
           [0004]    More particularly, the invention pertains to an oropharyngeal suction airway comprising an elongate body adapted to extend from a forward end thereof adapted to be engaged by a person&#39;s mouth to a rearward end thereof adjacent to the person&#39;s pharynx. The body includes a partially enclosed elongate conduit means extending along the length of the body and open at the forward or proximate end and rearward or distal end thereof. Means define an elongate airway for breathing by the person, adjacent to the conduit means, said means is located at the proximal end of the conduit means for receiving an operative connection to a pump means without obstructing the flow of air through the airway means.  
           [0005]    In one aspect, the airway means is defined by a pair of parallel displaced ribbon-like flanges, the flanges being fixed to opposite sides of the elongate conduit means.  
           [0006]    In another aspect the proximal end of the conduit means defines a radial suction control opening therein.  
           [0007]    In a preferred embodiment the body further includes a pair of parallel ribbon-like flanges defining a straight proximal section and an arcuate distal section; the flanges being held in spaced apart relation to each other by a relatively rigid conduit integrally attached to the flanges. The flanges define radially extending flanges as lip elements at the proximal end thereof for engaging the outside of a person&#39;s mouth, one of the lip elements defining a radial suction control opening therein in communication with the interior of the rigid conduit. The rigid conduit defines at its proximal end a tapered end frictionally receiving a tube connected to a pump means.  
           [0008]    The airway of the invention will function as an airway during certain conditions, and will function as a combination airway and pharynx evacuator when necessary.  
           [0009]    The invention also provides a pharynx evacuation system which can be used in combination with a standard anesthesia mask and connection means and can be used with patient insufflation systems.  
           [0010]    The device of the present invention is supplied with a side hole means near the distal end of the conduit. The hole is perpendicular to the conduit.  
           [0011]    The device of the present invention is supplied with a colored ring that is mounted radially between the end of a curved lip retaining flange and the end of the tapered portion of the proximal end of the device. This colored ring is designed to color code the various sizes of the airway devices of the present invention whereby the care giver attendant can quickly select the appropriate sized airway device by looking for the appropriately colored ring on the airway device.  
           [0012]    Additionally, while airway device of the invention have been fabricated as by injection molding the present devices have been fabricated as by gas assisted injection molding thereby giving excellent definition.  
           [0013]    These and other aspects and advantages of the details of construction will become apparent after reading the following description of the illustrative embodiment, with reference to the attached drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 is a side elevational view taken longitudinally along a transparent oropharyngeal suction airway embodying the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along lines  2 - 2  of FIG. 1.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 is an elevational view similar to that of FIG. 1 but shows the colored size identifying ring exploded from its position.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along lines  4 - 4  of FIG. 3.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the device of the present as viewed from its proximal end towards its distal end.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 6 is similar to the view of FIG. 5 but shows the colored identifying ring separate from the device.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the device rotated 90° as compared to FIG. 5.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 8 is similar to FIG. 7 but shows the colored identifying ring separate from the device. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0022]    Referring now in more detail to the drawings, in which like numerals represent like parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 depicts a side elevational view of an oro-pharyngeal suction airway  10  embodying the invention. The suction airway  10  includes an elongate body  11  formed of a suitable rigid material, such as a relatively lightweight thermoplastic that can be gas assisted injection molded into the detailed shape. The gas assisted injection method is in any conventional known method which has become important in the injection molding art because of its well known merit.  
         [0023]    The body  11  includes a proximal straight section  12  and a distal arcuate section  13  detailed by a pair of spaced longitudinally extending parallel ribbon-like flange elements  16  and  17 . They are preferably formed integrally with conduit  18 .  
         [0024]    The airway  10  is preferably fabricated from polyethylene material in a known gas assisted injection molding process employing a mold. The polyethylene material is pressurized towards a cavity in a mold. The mold is also supplied through a nozzle and conduit therefor with a supply of nitrogen gas or other suitable gas at high pressure from a suitable container.  
         [0025]    The method for manufacturing the airway is initiated by simultaneously feeding or injecting the polymer material and the nitrogen gas into the cavity of the mold whereby the nitrogen gas pushes the polymer material against the cavity walls of the mold, so that the material forms the airway body of the present invention. This gas-assisted injection molding is already known and is therefore not described in detail here. An example of the fabrication of an analogous suction device employing a gas assisted injection molding technique can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,731 to Nordstroem. Other patents depicting gas assisted injection molding are U.S. Nos. 4,948,547 to Hendry; 5,028,377 to Hendry; 5,039,463 to Loren, 5,208,046 to Shah et al; 5,284,429 to Schneider et al and 5,295,800 to Nelson. All of these patents are incorporated herein in their entireties by reference.  
         [0026]    The proximal straight section  12  terminates in a forwardly extending tapered portion  20 , to which a flexible hose can be attached (not shown). Between the tapered portion  20  and the termination of the two flanges  16  and  17  is a radially extending flange  21  which extends in two directions. Both the top edge and the bottom edge of the flange  21  have arcuate walls  22  and  23  sloping towards each other. The walls  22  and  23  extend in an arcuate manner longitudinally towards the conduit  18  but just shy of the widest portion of the tapered portion  20 . The confronting free edges  24  and  25 , respectively, of arcuate walls  22  and  23 , terminate in a spaced relationship from conduit  18 .  
         [0027]    The conduit  18  has a T-connection  26  which passes through upper arcuate wall  22 . The T-connection  26  terminates in an upwardly facing orifice  27 . The orifice  27  can be valve closed as by a thumb or the like.  
         [0028]    A feature of the present invention is the use of a ring  30  positioned around conduit  18  and in juxtaposition beneath the edges  24  and  25  of arcuate walls  22  and  23 , respectively. The ring  30  is desired to be colored whereby it can identify the size of the airway. It will be well appreciated that different sized airways will be necessary to accommodate individuals of different dimensions especially when the airways of the present invention are to be employed by children of varying ages. The use of colored rings is used to color code different sizes of airways.  
         [0029]    The airway of the present invention has an orifice  31  near the distal most end of the airway and conduit  18 . The orifice ensues the side-ways gas introduction into the patient even when the distal most end of the conduit  18  is clogged.  
         [0030]    In FIG. 4 it will be seen that the side orifice  31  is on opposite sides of the conduit  18 .  
         [0031]    Both FIGS. 2 and 4 clearly depict the flanges  16  and  17  with the conduit  18  sandwiched therebetween.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIGS. 5 and 6 is a perspective view of the airway  11  where the airway is in a standing position.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIGS. 7 and 8 is a perspective view of the airway  11  with the airway shown as lying on its side.  
         [0034]    In FIGS. 6 and 8 the colored size rings  30  are depicted as being removed to thereby clearly show the airway without the size indicia rings.  
         [0035]    It will be seen that the suctioning or aerating capability of the suction airway is improved with a plurality of openings  31  which are made radially into the distal portion of the tube  18 .  
         [0036]    In operation of the oral-pharyngeal suction airway  11 , the device is inserted into the patient&#39;s mouth until the curved distal section  13  extends into the back of the patient&#39;s throat adjacent to the pharynx. The back side of the flange  21  is placed against the outer surface of the patient&#39;s lips and the patient is instructed to bite down on the proximal straight portion  12  of flanges  16  and  17 . At this juncture, the patient is able to breathe through the channels  32  and  33  on the sides of conduit  18  and between flanges  16  and  17 . If no other apparatus is connected to the tapered portion  20 , then the patient can also breathe through the conduit  18 . In the placement of the suction airway  11 , the attending person can grasp the arcuate portions  22  and  23  with the fingers in order to control the location of the suction airway  11 .  
         [0037]    When it is necessary to perform a throat evacuation to remove fluid, mucous, blood or vomitus material from the throat, a flexible tubular conduit (not shown) is frictionally engaged over the projection tapered portion  20 . A suction pump apparatus also connected to the flexible tube is operated to create suction within the tube  18  to withdraw such fluids from the patient&#39;s throat. This can be performed without removing the suction airway  11  from the patient&#39;s mouth. Alternately, insufflation of the patient&#39;s lungs can be accomplished by connecting the tube to an oxygen supply apparatus in order to pump a stream of oxygen out of the end of the conduit  18  down the patient&#39;s throat to the patient&#39;s lungs. During either suction or oxygen supply operations, the patient is still able to breath through the channels  32  and  33 . The vent opening  27  can be used as a valve to control the strength of suction by means of the attending person&#39;s fingertip closing off all or a portion of the opening  27 . If continuous full strength suction is desired, the vent opening  27  can be plugged with a rubber stopper (not shown) or the like.  
         [0038]    While this invention has been described in detail, it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described hereinbefore and as defined in the appended claims.