Friday, May 25, 2007

Friday May 25, 2007
One lung ventilation with Univent® Endotracheal Tube

There are many situations, where you may prefer only one lung to be ventilated like in pulmonary hemorrhage where you may like to block one lung to prevent the soiling of ther lung. In such instances, Univent® Endotracheal Tube could be of good value which can be quickly placed at bedside.




Tube is a regular endotracheal tube but has a extra lumen for bronchial blocker which can be advanced blindly (easily if right lung need to be blocked) or under bronchoscope guidance, and inflating the baloon cuff. For left side placement, rotating the blocker or preferably entire Univent® ETT with side of blocker towards left shown to have help in placement.

Another advantage is to ventilate via blocker tube lumen, so it can also be used as a guide in difficult intubation (like bougie) or in expected difficult ETT changes.