Flow Disturbances Reduce the Effectiveness of a Face-mounted Negative Pressure Antechamber for Endonasal Surgery

The COVID-19 outbreak has driven an increase in face-mask research. Despite many investigations concerning general-use face masks, few options are available to protect surgeons performing aerosol-generating procedures. A novel mask was designed based on the containment technique of biosafety cabinets using negative pressure. Cross-validation using a high-speed camera and an optical particle counter was done to find a threshold where no aerosol leakage occurred. Two masks of different opening areas were developed, and these resulted in different minimum pressure requirements. Flow disturbances impacted the ability to contain aerosols near the larger opening, leading to a higher pressure threshold. These experiments showed the mask was effective in containing aerosols, limiting the spread of diseases during surgical procedures.