SBIR-STTR Award

Current approaches to airway management in combat scenarios are limited. Surgical airways, the default procedure in many instances, are often unsuccessful and have high complication rates. Endotracheal intubation, the preferred approach to airway management, is often not possible because of environmental limitations, inadequate user skill or experience level, or patient limitations (e.g., airway trauma). Building on experience with device development for the combat medic, InnoVital will develop an unpowered, semi-autonomous system that leverages magnets to enable blind intubationimproving the success and ease of airway management in military and civilian pre-hospital settings. The approach also takes advantage of years of study of magnet-assisted intubation, refining and redirecting the solution for relevance to pre-hospital care. The SureTube system will be iteratively developed and prototyped to demonstrate feasibility in the Phase I effort. The envisioned solution will be familiar to medics in that the appearance and functioning of system components will be similar to commonly used airway tools. In addition to InnoVital Systems specific experience with the development of procedural aids for pre-hospital and acute care providers, existing relationships with relevant industry partners puts InnoVital in the best position for delivering a useful product.

Current solutions for definitive airway management during pre-hospital combat casualty care are limited, and surgical airways (cricothyrotomies) are frequently unsuccessful. The preferred approach, endotracheal intubation, is often not possible due to inadequate user skill/experience or limitations of the environment/clinical scenario. In multi-domain and prolonged field care environments, trained caregivers may quickly become overburdened, requiring less/untrained providers to assist. Accordingly, tools that decrease the skill and experience required to correctly perform critical patient care procedures will be valuable. Building on extensive experience with device development for combat medicine, InnoVital is developing a semi-autonomous system that enables blind endotracheal intubation – improving the success and ease of definitive airway management in military and civilian pre-hospital settings. The low-cost “SureTube” has similarities to common airway tools, increasing first-attempt success, usability, and provider confidence. A recent user study showed a 91% success rate. In the proposed effort, the “SureTube” system design will be finalized, transitioned to a product, and tested against current approaches (e.g., direct and video laryngoscopy). In addition to InnoVital Systems’ experience with developing procedural aids for combat/pre-hospital care, existing relationships with relevant industry partners puts InnoVital in a strong position for launching the “SureTube” as early as 2023.