A team of Johns Hopkins University undergraduate biomedical engineering students were named runners-up in the 2023 Collegiate Inventors Competition in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
The OnPoint Ventilation team—senior Sneha Batheja, junior Alexandra Gorham, senior Charlie Almoney, senior Ria Jha, junior Nina Nair, senior Arijit Nukala, and junior Krisha Thakur—created the Bronchosleeve, a novel catheter designed to reduce the complications associated with one-lung ventilation, or OLV, a common procedure in chest surgeries.
Each year, more than 600,000 patients undergo the OLV procedure, which involves an anesthesiologist ventilating one lung and deflating the other so a surgeon can access the chest cavity. This procedure is often fraught with challenges and risks; for example, current devices are bulky, difficult to insert, and can easily become dislodged.
The team’s Bronchosleeve prototype simplifies the OLV procedure and reduces surgical complications; with a smaller diameter and enhanced visualization capabilities, the catheter is easier to insert and less likely to dislodge or move during the procedure.