Leemans M, Muller SH, van Alphen MJA, Vallenduuk W, Dirven R, van den Brekel MWM. Adjustable breathing resistance for laryngectomized patients: Proof of principle in a novel heat and moisture exchanger cassette.
Head Neck 2020;
43:1073-1087. [PMID:
33615610 PMCID:
PMC8048959 DOI:
10.1002/hed.26571]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2020] [Revised: 10/27/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
Due to the heat and moisture exchanger's (HME) breathing resistance, laryngectomized patients cannot always use an (optimal) HME during physical exercise. We propose a novel HME cassette concept with adjustable “bypass,” to provide adjustment between different breathing resistances within one device.
Methods
Under standardized conditions, the resistance and humidification performance of a high resistance/high humidification HME (XM) foam in a cassette with and without bypass were compared to a lower resistance/lesser humidification HME (XF) foam in a closed cassette.
Results
With a bypass in the cassette, the resistance and humidification performance of XM foam were similar to those of XF foam in the closed cassette. Compared to XM foam in the closed cassette, introducing the bypass resulted in a 40% resistance decrease, whereas humidification performance was maintained at 80% of the original value.
Conclusions
This HME cassette prototype allows adjustment between substantially different resistances while maintaining appropriate humidification performances.
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