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Background: The digital twin as an integrated technology has been widely used in the medical field. Currently, the application of digital twin technology in the field of respiratory science is mostly theoretical exploration, with less applied technical research. Therefore, this has greatly limited the development of lung-airway models and devices that cope with digital twin technology in clinical settings and has also hindered the development of digital twin technology. Objective: The aim is to propose an effective physical model to simulate the human environment as an efficient means to develop and improve the digital twin technology. Method: A representative set of patents related to physical models of the respiratory tract and lungs is presented, including methods for model building and ways to assess and predict the diagnosis of respiratory diseases. Results: Current patents are analyzed and compared in three aspects: physical models, model building methods, and respiratory disease assessment and prediction. A digital twin modeling approach including mechanical effects, biological evolution, physiological tissue changes and physical entity coupling is proposed based on the hardware support involved in rapid prototyping techniques and method patents. The advantages and disadvantages of the existing models are analyzed, and the systematicity, applicability, modeling techniques and fidelity of the digital twin physical model are prospected. Conclusion: Lung airway models are already based on complete morphological data, but purely physical models cannot reproduce the real environment of the human body. Therefore, in order to reach the heights of digital twins, the intervention of numerical theory and related auxiliary hardware is often required.

Background: The trachea is an essential part of the respiratory system. Lesions such as inflammatory granulomas cause Bronchial stenosis, which may be life-threatening. Tracheal stent placement is vital for treating airway stenosis, relieving dyspnea, and improving symptoms. Objective: This paper reviews the patents of tracheal stent placement and removal and auxiliary devices for diagnosis in recent years (from 2007 to the present) and introduces the characteristics and development of tracheal stent implantation, treatment, and assistive removal devices. In order to meet the need for more rapid operation and cause less harm to the human trachea, the structure of the tracheal stent surgical device needs to be improved continuously. Methods: This paper summarizes the research status of tracheal stent placement and removal and auxiliary devices for diagnosis and treatment in recent years and discusses the structural types and applications of tracheal stent auxiliary devices. Results: This paper summarizes the patent application of tracheal stent placement and removal and auxiliary devices for diagnosis and treatment at the present stage. This paper analyzes the main problems in its development and discusses the solutions to the problems and the future research direction. Conclusion: Tracheal stent surgical devices need further improvement in mechanical design, control strategy, etc. Tracheal stent surgical devices should be developed into universal, semi-automatic, and multi-functional machines. The relevant patents of the auxiliary device of the tracheal stent need to be developed.

Background: Tracheal stents can be placed in a narrow position in the human trachea to ensure smooth breathing. And the stent will deform during service by the influence of the physiological environment or random excitations such as coughing.Methods: This paper divides the vibration into periodic and random vibrations according to the different pressures. And a coupling vibration model was established by analyzing the contact relationship between the stent and the trachea tissue. And this study discusses the influence of tracheal diameter, respiratory pressure and frequency on the stent vibration characteristics through Ansys simulation. In addition, the nonlinear equations were solved by the Matlab numerical analysis method, which could help to analyze the influence of cough intensity on the stability of the tracheal stent system. Results: The results showed that when tracheal stenosis occurred in the trachea's more significant grade, the trachea stent was more likely to fall off when treated with a tracheal stent. With the increase in respiratory frequency and pressure, the deformation of the tracheal stent is more considerable. Moreover, the frequency of normal cough hardly affects the stability of the stent system, while the excitation force and damping coefficient value greatly influence the system. When the excitation force of the cough exceeds the critical importance of 20N, the tracheal stent is prone to fall off. This study comprehensively obtained the forced vibration characteristics of the stent under service conditions, which could make up for the shortage of the vibration theory of the stent.Conclusion: The results can provide a theoretical basis for predicting the possibility of stent loss in clinical treatment.

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