| Trauma of the airway occurs from a blunt or penetrating injury to the neck or chest regions of a patient [1]. In most situations, these forms of injury are immediately life treating because they will obstruct the oxygenation of blood causing resultant death from asphyxiation [1]. The current method of dealing with the technical challenges of a compromised airway is first to preform a rapid evaluation of the patient's condition followed promptly by establishing and maintaining access to a patient's airway [2]. The evaluation that needs to be conducted involves the visual inspection of the patient's maxillofacial injuries, especially laryngotracheal injuries to ensure that the intubation is possible. This will include utilizing medical suction to remove fluids, vomit, teeth, or other debris that have accumulated in the patient's airway.;As airway management takes such a key role in ensuring survival of patients in a pre-hospital environment, the improvement of technologies associated with clearing airways can have a significant impact on saving lives. The work presented consists of the simulation and selection of the best impeller of a centrifugal pump which can be installed into a medical suction device which can greatly increase the suction power of an airway clearing device. This work presents the formulation, parameters, conditions, and results of a computational fluid dynamics simulation of an impeller inside of a centrifugal pump.;[1] C. Prokakis, E. N. Koletsis, P. Dedeilias, F. Fligou, K. Filos, and D. Dougenis. Airway trauma: A review on epidemiology, mechanisms of injury, diagnosis and treatment. Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery, 9(1):117, 2014.;[2] R. Mohan and Iyer R. ; Thaller S. Airway management in patients with facial trauma. The Journal of craniofacial surgery, 20(1):21--23, 2009. |
