Enhancing Aerosol Mitigation in Medical Procedures: A CFD-Informed Respiratory Barrier Enclosure

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Infectious Disease Control
• Medical Device Design

Background:

• Aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) like intubation and CPR pose significant infection risks.
• Existing protective measures are insufficient in high-risk healthcare environments.
• Novel solutions are needed to enhance safety during AGPs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and optimize a novel respiratory barrier enclosure for AGPs.
• To enhance safety for healthcare workers and patients by containing aerosols.
• To utilize computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for design optimization.

Main Methods:

• Developed a patient respiratory hood with a negative pressure system.
• Employed CFD analysis to optimize hood design and negative pressure levels.
• Tested leakage rates using Polyalphaolefin (PAO) particles, measuring containment over 90 seconds.

Main Results:

• The redesigned enclosure demonstrated a 36.2% reduction in leakage rates.
• Simulations showed an approximate 3204.6% increase in aerosol extraction efficiency.
• The modified hood maintained a droplet leakage rate below 0.3%, meeting filter-testing criteria.

Conclusions:

• CFD-guided design is effective for developing respiratory barriers to reduce aerosol transmission.
• The optimized hood significantly enhances safety during high-risk medical procedures.
• This scalable solution improves safety for patients and healthcare providers during AGPs.