Material Sustainability and Patient’s Experiences of Silver Tracheostomy Tubes-An In-Vitro and In-Vivo Case Study |Biomedgrid

Introduction: Tracheostomy tubes are used for enabling a free airway for patients with respiratory failures. In trachea, tracheostomy tubes are exposed to the alkaline tracheal secretion and lining fluid containing proteins, enzymes, organic acids, inorganic salts, and bacteria. Research shows severe material degradation of tracheostomy tubes made of polymeric materials after patient use. Silver tracheostomy tubes are made for long-term exposure up to several years. The objectives were a) To evaluate and describe the performance and durability of sterling silver tracheostomy tubes, b) To preliminarily describe and discuss the resulting morphological changes of the material surface after 6 months of clinical use c) To describe the patient's own experiences of having a silver tracheostomy tube for a prolonged period of time and d) To study the release rate of metal ions into synthetic biological fluids in-vitro.