Hamilton Medical, Bonaduz, Switzerland, [removed]announced[/removed] that it has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for INTELLICUFF™, a new noninvasive automatic cuff pressure solution that reduces ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP).

For many years is has been known that leakage of oral secretions past the endotracheal tube ETT) has been a risk factor in the development of VAP and tracheal injuries, but existing solutions for ETT cuff pressure management require manual monitoring and adjustment of cuff pressure. This is a critical aspect in the ICU staff workload; as many as eight manual adjustments of cuff pressure are required daily to maintain recommended cuff pressure ranges. This increases the risk of lung infections and mechanical complications.

INTELLICUFF assists in reducing VAP and tracheal injuries by continuously monitoring and automatically adjusting cuffed tracheal and tracheostomy tubes. Like Hamilton ventilators, INTELLICUFF is controlled in the Ventilation Cockpit, which reduces complexity by graphically displaying the patient’s status, current treatment, and the required support, including current cuff pressure control and monitoring. INTELLICUFF is available for HAMILTON-G5 and HAMILTON-S1 ventilators.