MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
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Irvine-based Masimo produces life-saving device for newborns
New apparatus will increase detection of congenital heart disease.
By Larry UrishPublished: February 01, 2009 10:20 AM
Thanks to a device invented and produced by Masimo, an Irvine-based company that develops medical monitoring equipment, a greater number of newborns with congenital heart disease – a malady that is often very difficult to detect – will receive life-saving medical care.
A study that appeared in the British Medical Journal concluded that Masimo’s apparatus significantly improves the sensitivity and accuracy of “pulse oximetry screening,” which determines the oxygenation of a patient’s hemoglobin, a marker of heart disease. The device – Pulse CO-Oximetry Measure Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry – increased the detection of congenital heart disease by 20 percent (from 72 percent to 92 percent) in 39,821 newborns screened.
A large number of newborns that don’t receive timely critical care die of congenital heart disease (CHD); according to the study's researchers, 10 percent to 30 percent of babies who die of heart disease remain undiagnosed.
The study was headed by Dr. Anne de-Wahl, of the Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden. It adds to Dr. de-Wahl’s previous studies, which concluded that pulse oximetry results made by the Masimo-produced device are more accurate than readings using conventional pulse oximetry. This improved accuracy, say de-Wahl and her team, ultimately save lives.
"Undiagnosed CHD frequently places the lives of newborns in grave danger,” says Dr. Michael O'Reilly, Masimo executive vice president of medical affairs. “(More-reliable pulse-oximetry readings are) key to substantially increasing the ability to accurately diagnose CHD before newborns are discharged from the hospital."
Related headlines:
Advanced Medical Optics Inc. partners with Institute for Eye Research
Advanced Sterilization Products provides defense for medical infection
Toshiba Medical expanding product lines
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A study that appeared in the British Medical Journal concluded that Masimo’s apparatus significantly improves the sensitivity and accuracy of “pulse oximetry screening,” which determines the oxygenation of a patient’s hemoglobin, a marker of heart disease. The device – Pulse CO-Oximetry Measure Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry – increased the detection of congenital heart disease by 20 percent (from 72 percent to 92 percent) in 39,821 newborns screened. A large number of newborns that don’t receive timely critical care die of congenital heart disease (CHD); according to the study's researchers, 10 percent to 30 percent of babies who die of heart disease remain undiagnosed. The study was headed by Dr. Anne de-Wahl, of the Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden. It adds to Dr. de-Wahl’s previous studies, which concluded that pulse oximetry results made by the Masimo-produced device are more accurate than readings using conventional pulse oximetry. This improved accuracy, say de-Wahl and her team, ultimately save lives. "Undiagnosed CHD frequently places the lives of newborns in grave danger,” says Dr. Michael O'Reilly, Masimo executive vice president of medical affairs. “(More-reliable pulse-oximetry readings are) key to substantially increasing the ability to accurately diagnose CHD before newborns are discharged from the hospital." Related headlines: Advanced Medical Optics Inc. partners with Institute for Eye Research Advanced Sterilization Products provides defense for medical infection Toshiba Medical expanding product lines |
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