Laryngeal injury from prolonged endotracheal intubation.

This project was undertaken to develop models of acute and chronic laryngeal intubation as a format for testing a newly designed endotracheal tube. The tube has a specially created laryngeal cuff designed to reduce pressure exerted against the laryngeal soft tissues. The laryngeal foam cuff was shown to prevent the injurious sequence of mucosal ischemia, ulceration, and cartilage damage. A laryngeal foam cuff has the potential to significantly reduce laryngeal injury from prolonged endotracheal intubation. A prospective randomized clinical trial has been initiated and will be reported subsequently.