A flutter valve (also known as the Heimlich valve after its inventor,

Henry Heimlich Henry Judah Heimlich (February 3, 1920 – December 17, 2016) was an American thoracic surgeon and medical researcher. He is widely credited as the inventor of the Heimlich maneuver, a technique of abdominal thrusts for stopping choking, first ...

) is a

one-way valve A check valve, non-return valve, reflux valve, retention valve, foot valve, or one-way valve is a valve that normally allows fluid ( liquid or gas) to flow through it in only one direction. Check valves are two-port valves, meaning they have ...

used in respiratory medicine to prevent air from travelling back along a

chest tube A chest tube (also chest drain, thoracic catheter, tube thoracostomy or intercostal drain) is a surgical drain that is inserted through the chest wall and into the pleural space or the mediastinum in order to remove clinically undesired substanc ...

. One can also use a chest drainage management system, which typically enables vacuum to be applied along with quantifying the effluent. However, it is much larger with more tubing, which may encumber the patient. It is most commonly used to help remove air from a

pneumothorax A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve ...

. The valve is usually designed as a rubber sleeve within a plastic case where the rubber sleeve is arranged so that when air passes through the valve one way the sleeve opens and lets the air through. However, when air is sucked back the other way, the sleeve closes off and no air is allowed backwards. This construction enables it to act as a one-way valve allowing air (or fluid) to flow only one way along the drainage tube. The end of the drainage tube is placed inside the patient's chest cavity, within the air or fluid to be drained. The flutter valve is placed in the appropriate orientation (most packages are designed so the valve can only be connected in the appropriate orientation) and the

is thus evacuated from the patient's chest. There are several potential problems with these valves. One is that the chest tube can clog. When chest tube clogging occurs, the

subcutaneous emphysema Subcutaneous emphysema (SCE, SE) occurs when gas or air accumulates and seeps under the skin, where normally no gas should be present. ''Subcutaneous'' refers to the subcutaneous tissue, and ''emphysema'' refers to trapped air pockets resembling t ...

can recur. This can also lead to

empyema An empyema () is a collection or gathering of pus within a naturally existing anatomical cavity. For example, pleural empyema is empyema of the pleural cavity. It must be differentiated from an abscess, which is a collection of pus in a newly forme ...

. The other is that these tend to leak fluid. To address this, some have turned to small chest drainage alternatives. An alternative solution is to attach a sputum trap to the valve, thus providing a reservoir to capture the draining fluid. The flutter valves or Pneumostat valves allow patients to ambulate more easily and patients may be able leave the hospital in certain instances. The traditional chest tube collection box often would require longer hospital stay.

References

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External links

bd_bardparker_heimlich_chest_drain_valve_brochure.pdf
from BD Bard Parker(tm)

from www.freepatentsonline.com

from Netter Medical Illustrations (the blue tubular valve)

from Emergency Medical Products

from www.freepatentsonline.com Pulmonology