PENETRATION OF AN AEROSOL, PRODUCED BY FILM ATOMIZATION, THROUGH THE CARINAL BIFURCATION

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Abstract
We have measured the size of spots produced by atomization of simulated biofilm particles from a tracheal tube. Draughtsman's ink was atomized from 8.5 mm i.d. POrtex tracheal tubes, using an airflow of 1 litres s1, and trapped on vehical acetate sheets. The spots produced byb these particles were compared with the spot size after entrainment and dissemtation from an ink-lined tracheal tube though a bifurating tracheobroncial tube towards a glass plate. Spot dimesnions were measured by computer-assisted image analysis of a video images. The smallest particles observed on the acetate sheets were 4-17 μm in size. In the bifuratying tube experiment, large particles were depoisted around the carinal bifuration, but smaller particles traversed the bend. The smallest spot size observed (7μm minimum; 17 μm median) corresponds to particles small enough to penertate further into the carnial bifuration suggets that fragments of biofilm entrained in the respiratory tract during the inspiratory phase of mechincal ventilation.(Br. J. Anaesth. 1993; 70: 527-531)

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