K-CAD, the Kinetic Cavity Access Device
A clinical briefing for emergency, trauma, critical care, air medical, and EMS physicians.
Percutaneous chest cavity access in three motions, by one operator, with no scalpel incision. Designed for under one minute.
Aspirate.
Access.
Place.
One device, three motions, one operator. Detailed device imagery is shared under confidentiality with clinical evaluators and qualified parties.
Every step is a place to go wrong
Open tube thoracostomy has changed little since it became standard: scalpel incision, blunt dissection, finger sweep, then the tube. Every step is a place to go wrong, and complications cluster in inexperienced hands and in the hardest settings in medicine: the trauma bay, the intensive care unit (ICU), the aircraft, and the remote scene where the clinician on hand may never have placed a chest tube.
Published complication rates among emergency operators have been reported at approximately 37 percent, and a complicated placement carries a median cost of roughly nine times an uncomplicated one.1
What K-CAD is
K-CAD is a single-use, sterile, handheld device from Kiventa Foundry Corporation, invented by Jonathan Kiev, MD, FACS, a board-certified thoracic and cardiac surgeon with more than 30 years of placing, teaching how to place, and repairing chest tubes. K-CAD replaces the multi-instrument, multi-person kit with one device and three motions, operable single-handed.
Three motions
Aspirate
A Veress-style needle with an auto-retracting blunt-tip shield confirms thoracic entry by aspirating air or fluid before anything is cut.
Access
Trigger-actuated dual cutting blades behind a covered safety provide controlled, single-handed tissue dilation.
Place
A removable cannula passes a chest tube up to 36 French (Fr), covering large-bore trauma tubes and small-bore pigtails.
Design targets: under 60 seconds for tube placement and under 30 seconds for decompression, to be demonstrated in verification and validation testing.
Engineered safety
- Blunt, retractable needle tip
- Depth stop against over-insertion
- Trigger safety mechanism
- Covered, trigger-activated blade
- Depth markings on the cannula
- Compatible with ultrasound guidance
Each feature maps to a documented failure mode of the open technique.
Where it is designed to be used
Emergency department and trauma bay; ICU and inpatient floors; air medical and critical care transport; ground EMS where the medical director's delegated practice permits; tactical and austere care. Intended use environments under development include hospital and transport.
Program status
Functioning prototype with cadaveric and animal testing complete; functional outcomes observed across trauma, emergency, ICU, and pulmonology use cases. FDA 510(k) pathway defined, with written FDA Pre-Submission feedback on the proposed predicate. Issued United States utility patents. Contract manufacturer selection underway; human factors and verification testing ahead. Not yet cleared.
What Kiventa Foundry is asking of clinicians
Hands-on evaluation of prototypes in cadaver labs and simulation settings. Candid feedback on human factors, use environments, roadblocks, and where the device belongs. Interest in serving as a clinical evaluator, trial site, or protocol advisor. This is a clinical conversation, not an investment solicitation.
Contact: Jonathan Kiev, MD, FACS, Founder and Chairman. Jonathan.Kiev@KiventaFoundry.com, 301-575-7998.
K-CAD is an investigational device. It has not been cleared or approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is not available for sale. Performance characteristics stated as design targets have not been established.
1. Hernandez MC, Zeb MH, Heller SF, Zielinski MD, Aho JM. Tube Thoracostomy Complications Increase Cost. World J Surg. 2017 Jun;41(6):1482-1487. doi: 10.1007/s00268-017-3897-7. PMID: 28120094.