Description
Why Choose the Reactor®
The Reactor® offers numerous design advantages to markedly improve the insertion of chest tubes into the thoracic cavity including the following:
- Rotating and Retracting Blade
“Carves” not punctures through tissue - Oval Shaft
Fits between ribs better than round - Chest Wall “Tunnel”
Creates a constant diameter narrow (~1cm) tunnel through the chest wall; unlike the open technique which is more conical in nature (larger at the skin and smaller internally)
How the Reactor® Compares
The Reactor® should offer the following advantages over a traditional open chest tube insertion technique.
| Open Chest Tube (OCT) Insertion | Reactor® Chest Tube (RCT) Insertion | |
|---|---|---|
| incision length* | ~2-5 cm | ~1 cm |
| procedure time* | requires more time than RCT | requires less time than OCT |
*Noted in anatomic model testing.
2002 Physician Survey
In 2002 Sharp Medical Products, LLC underwrote a third-party to conduct a survey of 23 emergency room physicians and cardiologists regarding our early prototype and concept/s of how the Reactor® could improve open chest tube insertion. View the complete results of the 2002 Survey.
Below are a few highlights from the survey:
Number of physicians that thought there were problems with the existing open/standard method of inserting chest tubes and what those problems were:
- Patient pain 100%
- Injuries to the clinician 100%
- Time to complete the procedure 78%
Distinguishing characteristics of the Reactor® prototype and how important they are to the physician:
- Time and cost 100%
- Safety to clinician and patient 100%
- Eccentric blade 83%
- Elliptical shaft 78%
- Reduction in tools (trays) 78%
