Studies Show Respiratory Volume Monitoring May Offer Better Protection for Women in Labor and Obese Patients

WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Respiratory Motion, Inc. – Research being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2015 annual meeting this month finds that pulse oximetry and capnography commonly used in hospitals may be inadequate to protect women in labor and obese post-operative patients.

The studies, to be presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2015 meeting in San Diego on Oct. 24, demonstrate the shortcomings of commonly used respiratory monitoring technologies and suggest they may fail to effectively protect patients from serious respiratory risks. Highlights include:

• A study suggests that the increases in body temperature of women in labor following an epidural may result from a decrease in respiratory minute ventilation caused by the analgesia. While epidural patients are often monitored using traditional respiratory monitors, the study found that subtle respiration changes that are possibly related to the analgesia can only be identified by monitoring respiratory minute ventilation before, during and after the epidural is administered.
• A study of obese surgical patients found that traditional respiratory monitoring may be unable to detect life-threatening respiratory complications related to sleep apnea that many overweight patients experience. Because they have a high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea, obese patients are at risk for postoperative respiratory complications. The study found that the episodes of potentially life-threatening low minute volume did not result in respiratory rate values that would signal the patient was at risk, suggesting that respiratory rate monitoring alone may be insufficient to identify potential respiratory issues.

Beyond its presentations at ANESTHESIOLOGY 2015, Respiratory Motion can be found at the meeting's exhibition, at space #2947 in Hall D.

"Respiratory minute ventilation detects subtle ventilation changes far earlier than legacy technologies, giving clinicians a margin of safety within which to intervene before actual respiratory depression occurs," said Dr. Jenny E. Freeman, founder and CEO of Respiratory Motion, Inc., which manufactures The ExSpiron™ Patient Monitor, a non-invasive, continuous minute ventilation monitor that provides data previously available only for intubated patients. "The evidence demonstrates that the inadequacy of traditional capnography and pulse oximetry exposes patients to needless risk."

A third presentation, to the 35^th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society For Clinical Anesthesiologists in Yokohama, Japan, will reinforce conclusions that respiratory minute ventilation is superior to other forms of respiratory monitoring.  The presentation during the meeting being held Oct. 21-23, will report that "studies from the Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Texas and University of Vermont and elsewhere have shown advantages of respiratory minute ventilation over other monitoring methods including respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and end-tidal CO2."

All the presentations used data compiled using Respiratory Motion's ExSpiron monitor to measure minute ventilation.

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 minute ventilation 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 respiratory volumes 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.

For more information contact:

Jack Auer
Vice president, sales and marketing
Respiratory Motion, Inc.
781-354-8051
[email protected]

Jim Martinez
Rightstorygroup
312-543-9026
[email protected]

SOURCE Respiratory Motion, Inc.

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