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Background

Approximately half of hospitalized patients get malnourished, which worsens outcomes. When nasal tubes are placed into patients for feeding, they occasionally slip into the lungs due to the proximity of the esophagus to the airway. This mishap can be life-threatening, especially considering that 27 million feeding tubes are placed in hospitalized patients yearly worldwide. The current standard of care involves clinicians inserting a feeding tube blindly and checking position by CXR, which may be too late.

Proposed Healthcare Solution

Smart Feeding tube to reduce life-threatening complications associated with tube misplacement into the airway

Development Stage

Prototype Development

Funding Cycle

2021-2022

Team

Barry D. Fuchs, MD, MS
Department of Medicine

Marek Swoboda, PhD

Michal Swoboda, MS

 

For more information on this technology, please contact Penn Center for Innovation at pciinfo@pci.upenn.edu.