Studies Show Inadequate Monitoring of Patient Respiratory Status by Capnography and Pulse Oximetry

WALTHAM, Mass., March 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Respiratory Motion, Inc. – Research being presented at the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) Annual Meeting this month finds that pulse oximetry and capnography commonly used in hospitals do not protect patients and can trigger false alarms.

The studies, to be presented at the IARS meeting in Honolulu on March 23, all demonstrate the weakness of commonly used respiratory monitoring technologies and suggest they may dangerously expose patients to serious respiratory risks. Highlights include:

• A study of post anesthesia care unit patients at Massachusetts General Hospital found more than 90 percent of PACU pulse oximetry alarms were false. It concluded, "Continuous minute ventilation monitoring gives advanced warning of developing respiratory depression … and provides early … data for caregivers to modify opioid dosing or other interventions to prevent progression of respiratory depression." The study found that "respiratory volume monitoring (RVM) has the potential to improve patient safety."
• A second study comparing minute ventilation and capnography monitoring in intubated and nonintubated patients concludes capnography is "suboptimal for monitoring non-intubated patients" and the "inaccuracy and time lag in capnography reporting can compromise patient safety." It concludes that RVM should be used over capnography with these patients.
• A third study that assessed the effectiveness of respiratory monitoring during and after upper endoscopies found that standard respiratory monitoring equipment cannot detect most transient respiratory depression events.  It concludes, "RVM has the potential to … improve patient safety."

The three studies, and a fourth that found continuous, monitoring of MV has the potential to improve patient safety in obese patients, all used Respiratory Motion Inc. technology, called the ExSpiron™ Patient Monitor, to measure minute ventilation. This innovative monitor is the only device that monitors respiratory volume non-invasively. Respiratory Motion is appearing at the show in Exhibition Space 15.

"The evidence is growing that traditional capnography and pulse oximetry expose patients to needless risk," said Dr. Jenny E. Freeman, Respiratory Motion's founder and CEO. "Respiratory volume monitoring detects subtle ventilation changes far earlier than competing technologies, before actual respiratory depression. This enables doctors to intervene before the occurrence of life-threatening problems."

In the hospital, changes in breathing status often precede deterioration towards respiratory depression and cardiac arrest. Each year, cardiopulmonary arrests may reach 160,000 cases and lead to thousands of deaths.  Commonly, cardiopulmonary arrests are preceded by respiratory events.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality finds the annual costs of respiratory insufficiency, arrest and failure was $7.8 billion in 2007, making respiratory issues one of the fastest drivers of hospital inpatient cost increases in the United States.

Respiratory volume measurement is used to monitor the amount of air actually breathed by a patient. In 2012, Respiratory Motion won U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for its revolutionary ExSpiron monitoring system, the first technology to provide continuous, non-invasive respiration volume in spontaneously breathing patients. 

About Respiratory Motion, Inc. 

Respiratory Motion, Inc. is a medical device company based in Waltham, Mass., that develops innovative technology to monitor respiration and help clinicians and hospitals improve patient safety and outcomes. The company's monitoring systems can identify patients who are at risk for life-threatening respiratory depression. This allows physicians to prevent the dangerous condition before it harms a patient. To learn more, visit www.respiratorymotion.com.

SOURCE Respiratory Motion, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.respiratorymotion.com

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