NANOVIBRONIX NG SHIELD CREATES ACOUSTIC LUBRICATION

Background

Acoustic lubrication for Nasogastric (NG) tubes will lower the friction experienced by the tube/tissue interface during insertion and indwelling phase thus reduce the pain and discomfort during NG tube usage.

The goal – To define the potential of NanoVibronix technology to form acoustic lubrication and decrease static friction between the tube and its surroundings.

Methods

Tube sections cut from 18 Fr size Nasal Gastric tube were tested with a commercially available friction tester (Harland Medical System FTS 5000). The tester is designed to grip and pull a test specimen with a controlled load (150 grams) through the grips at a controlled rate while simultaneously recording the pull force. Every test was repeated 5 times. The average and peak loads are reported.

Results

The friction results are described in the following table

The results demonstrate a reduction of 15-20% in the loading power that was needed to over come the friction between the tube and the grips. This indicates that the friction was lower in comparison to the “Non-Active” status.

Conclusions

Based on these results it was proven that application of acoustic energy by the NG Shield to Nasogastric (NG) tube reduces the coefficient of friction between the tube and it’s surrounding.