Hopkins device could help soldiers breathe

Biomedical engineering students develop low-cost CricSpike for emergencies

It seemingly always works in the movies: Someone unable to breathe after an accident is stabbed in the neck with a ballpoint pen to create a temporary emergency airway.

But in real-life battlefield scenarios, the procedure called a cricothyrotomy fails one-third of the time and the patient dies or is seriously harmed. It fails 15 percent of the time in hospital settings.

So biomedical engineering students in the Johns Hopkins University Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design Teams Program came up with the CricSpike, a device that medics could use to create an artificial airway and pump air into the lungs. The tool could keep soldiers alive until they reach a hospital.

“We were all excited by the emergency life-saving aspects of this project,” said Antonio Spina of Streamwood, Ill., who served as team leader during his senior year.

The prototype is low-cost and low-tech and still needs a bit of work, but it has promise, said retired Army physician James K. Gilman, former executive director of the Johns Hopkins Military and Veterans Health Institute and the students’ sponsor and medical adviser.

The team relied on 3-D printing for its prototype but now needs more professional production, he said.

The stakes are high: In Iraq and Afghanistan, 10 percent to 15 percent of the preventable battlefield deaths are attributable to airway obstructions or respiratory failure, largely the result of explosives.

The new device has a tip that enables it to connect more accurately with the patient’s windpipe, beyond the skin but before the esophagus, which leads to the stomach and not the lungs. Existing tools can go too far or not far enough.

A two-piece handle breaks off after the tip is inserted. The kit also includes a scalpel to make an incision in the neck, a tube to channel air and a bag valve mask to push in air. The device has a provisional patent.

Students plan to polish the design in the coming school year.

JOHN BIDLACK/HOMEWOOD PHOTOGRAPHY CricSpike team members Jordan Kreger, left, and Sondra Rahmeh practice a neck incision, a step in treating a blocked airway.