Infant CPAP Masks

Infants born prematurely do not have fully developed respiratory systems, requiring the use of existing Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Masks. Annually, over 400,000 premature infants are born in the United States and 13 million are born globally. Infants without fully developed respiratory systems have unstable alveoli and chest walls as well as low levels of surfactant. This can lead to a decrease in function residual capacity because of the decrease in outward pull of the chest wall.

Current CPAP devices used for infants applies the continuous positive airway pressure in order to keep airways open. The main purpose of the CPAP machine is to reduce the energy required to expand the lungs and therefore chest wall. This decreases the need for intubation or other forms of invasive ventilation. However, the current CPAP masks used for premature infants can often lead to pressure sores and ulcerations due to prolonged pressure. This can lead to infection and sepsis if left untreated. Current practices to reduce pressure sores are tedious and time consuming for the staff dealing with the infants.

To combat this, this device will measure the impedance of the skin over time. If the impedance deviates from the baseline values by a certain threshold, an alarm will go off, signaling the medical professionals to treat the infant. This device will prevent medical professionals from conducting tedious tests to determine the integrity of the infants’ skin. Additionally, detecting the onset of a pressure injury will decrease the severity requiring less treatment.

The team has been meeting with a wound ostomy nurse and respiratory specialist from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to get real-world feedback on the device. These specialists have extensive knowledge on infant CPAP masks which they have relayed to the team in order to fabricate a mask that resolves current CPAP issues.