AAAR 35th Annual Conference October 17 - October 21, 2016 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Characterization of Aerosol Filtration Properties of Neonatal Human Nasal Airways
SCOTT TAVERNINI, Michelle L. Noga, Andrew R. Martin, Warren H. Finlay, University of Alberta
Abstract Number: 544 Working Group: Health Related Aerosols
Abstract Delivery of medicinal aerosols to newborns is an essential tool for the treatment of infant respiratory ailments; yet the deposition of particles traversing the nasal passage of neonatal infants remains poorly quantified. Delivery of pharmaceutical aerosols via the nasal passage is necessitated by the fact that infants less than about six months of age are obligatory nasal breathers, thus the filtration properties of the nasal passage are important. Additionally, it has been suggested that environmental pollution in the form of particulate matter is associated with increased infant mortality, further motivating the present study. Nasal deposition has been investigated previously for infants 3-18 months old; the present study addresses the 0-3 month age range and whether current correlations can be used to predict nasal deposition in this younger population. Airway replicas of eight infants have been rapid prototyped from computed tomography (CT) scan data. Aerosol of jojoba oil generated by a 6-jet collison nebulizer is passed through two paths, one including an airway model, the other a blank sampling line, under varying flow conditions. Comparing the aerosol distribution measured by an electrostatic low pressure impactor (ELPI) after passing each path gives the fraction of aerosol particles, classified by aerodynamic diameter, which deposit in the nasal passageway. Deposition data as a function of Reynolds and Stokes number is examined.