![]() The pulse oximeter, invented in 1978 by William “Bill” New, MD, PhD, then a member of Stanford’s anesthesia clinical faculty, uses red and infrared light to measure the blood’s color: the redder the blood, the higher the oxygen. “Many studies from different institutions have shown that between 5 and 10 percent of cardiac bypass patients experience subtle declines in intellectual ability due to diminished oxygen supply to the brain,” said van der Starre. Because the pulse oximeter relies on the pulsing of a patient’s blood vessels to assess the oxygen level, it’s of little use during such an operation, as this pulse ceases. The study appeared in the June 2004 Anesthesiology.Īmong pulse oximetry’s blind spots is one that occurs during bypass surgery. “John encouraged me to build the monitor and use it to study the ‘blind spots of oximetry’-periods of low oxygen saturation that pulse oximetry doesn’t reveal,” said Benaron.īrock-Utne, Benaron, Pieter van der Starre, MD, and 16 others produced a study in animals and humans and showed that the device reliably monitors oxygen levels, even in situations in which pulse oximetry fails. Once it was built he was the first to test it. He learned about Benaron’s vision for the device when it was still in the planning stages. The first clinician to give the device serious consideration was Stanford professor of anesthesiology John Brock-Utne, MD, PhD. The FDA granted clinical approval in November. An added benefit is that it works even if the patient has no pulse. But unlike the pulse oximeter, this new monitor can zero in on the amount of oxygen reaching specific tissues. Like the pulse oximeter-the standard oxygen monitor used in the ICU and surgery- the new device determines oxygen levels by noninvasively reading the blood’s color. Among these: tumor detection and drug development, said Benaron. ![]() The inventor, former Stanford associate professor David Benaron, MD, suggests that the device also shows promise for uses outside of surgery and critical care. In select operating rooms worldwide, surgeons are using a new kind of noninvasive oxygen monitor that makes up for the current technology’s major blind spot-detecting low oxygen levels that arise because of low or obstructed blood flow even though the lungs are working just fine.Īccording to recently published studies, many conducted at Stanford, the monitor works and has probably saved lives.
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