The history of the revolutionary medical device: pulse oximeter

Did you know that the pulse oximeter weighed 11 kg and cost tens of thousands of shekels. Today it is attached to the finger

Many areas of our lives are changing thanks to technology. Regarding medical devices in general and the field of medical treatment and diagnosis in particular, which is perfected and developed over the years - it seems that they have changed for the better!

For example, in the past there were no anesthetics, and surgeries were performed while the patient was awake and felt the pain! It was necessary to hold him or tie him to the bed, so that the surgeon could perform the surgical operation. When the anesthetics were found and came into use, the great suffering for the patient and the treating team passed away.

For example, in the recent past (in the 70s), a person who needed surgery to remove gallstones, underwent the operation by opening the abdomen so that the stones could be reached and removed. Thanks to technology, today this is done laparoscopically and without opening the abdomen.

It can be understood that for every medical activity or for every new medical technology, there was a medical and technological process that led to the invention and construction - basically to create the product we use. And when you focus on a medical device, then it is a specific and unique product, device or medical treatment that the medical teams use or perform.

In fact, for every technological product in general that we use, and medical equipment in particular that medical teams use, there was or still is an inventor! - an engineer or a doctor or a physicist or a team of them - who identified the need for the medical device and began research and establishing a technological start-up Medical. Then regulatory processes begin, and finally: launch, marketing and sales - to hospitals, medical institutes, clinics, and to people at home. Sometimes when the device is important and essential such as the device we are talking about here: "pulse oximeter", "storage meter", "oxygen saturation meter" - it is upgraded and miniaturized and its price is reduced so that it will also fit and be within reach of every person.

As part of my past work in a hospital, as a medical engineer, I experienced several medical and original technical innovations that were purchased for us for the hospital for the first time in Israel, and also the medical technological revolution that the Storation measure created for the benefit of us, the public (children and adults) who sometimes need hospitalization and surgery in a hospital. In the 80's I worked a lot with anesthesiologists providing technical service for all anesthesia equipment and in real time (during surgery). My activity was also in the fields of anesthesia equipment - the anesthesia machines and EKG monitors and I asked the doctors - "How do you know if the patient has a decrease in oxygen?". The answer I received was: "We take a blood test to diagnose blood gases". From watching the anesthesia process I noticed that there is a disadvantage for the patient. It is necessary to stab him and remove arterial blood from his body, and the answer of oxygen saturation in the blood, would not be received immediately! It was a drawback. When it comes to babies. Repeated stabbings create hemorrhaging, and this created a medical technical dilemma for the doctors "to stab or not to stab and where?" - each case individually.

As a solution to the problem, the manufacturers at the time offered non-puncture gas bleed devices - which continuously measure blood gases using a sensor that is glued to the skin (of a baby or a person). The devices were very expensive and therefore, there was also a lack of them in the hospital! The cost of the stickers has also become a regular and additional expense for the hospital. When the sensor was removed from the skin, there would remain a mark similar to a birthmark - which of course was disturbing and painful for every patient, especially the baby and his parents.

In the 80s, the revolution began, the pulse oximeter appeared - oxygen saturation meter - saturation meter - pulse oximeter - which gradually began to penetrate every operating room and they began to measure with it continuously, throughout the operation, the percentage of oxygen saturation in the patient's blood (saturation) and his heart rate. The desired oxygen saturation for a healthy person is 96 percent or higher and this continuous information gave and continues to give to this day, important vital information to the anesthesiologist during surgery and to the other medical teams in the hospital wards to continue the healing in the ward to know if and when to increase the percentage of oxygen or the breathing rate that the operated (patient) receives from the ventilator/anesthesia machine.

The revolutionary safety advantage of this device has been proven and proven to a large extent and is considered particularly successful in infant and child surgeries. They have fast physiological fluctuations and a quick medical response is required. I was present and witnessed a situation where the oxygen saturation of a baby during surgery dropped to 80 percent, the device beeped and the doctor immediately acted to correct the situation, and in fact prevented brain damage to the baby in advance, God forbid. This founding event convinced me that this is a medical technical breakthrough for the benefit of the public that will promote and still promote the safety and quality of medical care!

*The main thing is that we wake up from the anesthesia and return home safely - and the oximeter level has a decisive contribution and influence on this! Medical technology at its best.

Today, every hospital in every operating room has a "pulse oximeter", it is already required by the Ministry of Health. "Pulse oximeter" has also penetrated the intensive care, recovery, and normal wards of the hospital, where it is integrated into the electronic blood pressure device, and the nurse can also check this vital parameter "storage", "oxygen saturation" for each patient during a daily examination. Of course, we are in maternity wards with premature babies, and solve the problem from the past, from before the 80s, the repeated stabbings of the babies, including the sick. -Hence this is definitely a medical health technological revolution.

The prices were initially expensive, around $6000 per device, and hospitals had to purchase them in order to promote quality and safety for the patient. Later, with the progress and miniaturization of the technology, the "pulse oximeter" was integrated into EKG monitors and/or into electronic blood pressure monitors, which are already purchased for hospital departments and clinics - and the price dropped to around 2000 dollars.
*Thanks to the miniaturization of electronic components and the improvement of computing capabilities and digital memory - the prices continued and continue to decrease until now!

In recent years, pulse oximeters have largely succeeded in penetrating the home as well - to the population that needs oxygen at home. Its cost is between NIS 250 and NIS 900. In fact, as a result, a health revolution was created at home - in the health of the person in his home. The miniaturization of technology and the reduction of fees today allow doctors in clinics, community doctors, paramedics, paramedics, community nurses, private individuals, to purchase the device and use it a lot for diagnosing and making a more accurate decision about the patient's condition.

*In the near future, even for the smartphone that each of us has, we will be able to purchase a Stortia probe and a blood pressure cuff, and the doctors will be able to connect to their smartphone: a stethoscope sensor and an ultrasound probe and EKG electrodes - I hope that they will take advantage of this technological opportunity, and will indeed use it for the benefit of us patients .

Who needs and important a pulse oximeter:

* Doctors in the clinics of the fund or private doctors - use for diagnosis and early detection of heart problems and lung diseases.

* Individuals who suffer from snoring and apnea can use a pulse oximeter with alerts that will cause them to wake up before the value drops to 91%, and also print out trends for themselves throughout the night - even send them by email to the attending physician, and get an opinion on continued treatment, etc.

* Copd patients, smokers, children with asthma, patients with respiratory diseases - make sure that the value does not fall below what was defined for them.

* Ambulatory clinics, institutes for plastic surgery, sleep laboratories, gastro clinics.

* Athletes, who are at risk of a heart attack or pulmonary edema and are insufficiently careful when walking or running that the stortion value does not fall below what was defined for them, and the heart rate does not go above what is reasonable for them.

*Community doctors, family doctors, cardiologists, pediatricians, doctors who make home visits, anesthesiologists, dentists.

In conclusion: today for the medical teams in hospitals and for medical teams for the community and for people at home there is this revolutionary "Stortiye meter". that can be moved with it when it is placed on the finger and attached like a watch to the wrist throughout the day, or can be tested independently, use it several times a day.

Thanks to the technology, thanks to the research, thanks to the vision, thanks to the inventor, the pulse oximeter is a first-class medical diagnostic device for anesthesiologists, family doctors, cardiologists and pediatricians, who can use it to diagnose and detect respiratory and heart diseases early. Especially our children are sensitive to environmental pollution and checking them from time to time with such a device can help in advance in preventing and aggravating the situation...

An explanation of a plesoximeter for home use - here! Interview with Ziv Tsekh in the program on Channel 2

Quote from the website of the company "Fay Medical Ltd" the technical medical history

• 1864 George Gabriel discovers that hemoglobin is the carrier of oxygen in the blood.
• 1876 ​​Carl von Wierordt uses a light source to distinguish blood that is fully saturated with oxygen from blood that is not fully saturated.
• 1941 For the first time an "oximetry test" was used to identify the process of obtaining a saturation reading using an oximeter level.
• 40s Oximetry tests save World War II pilots who flew planes that lacked cockpit pressure.
• 1970 Oximetry becomes applicable and available for clinical use.
• 80s Oximeters become smaller, easier to use, and less expensive.
• 1995 Fingertip oximeters appear on the market for the first time. Measuring oxygen in person and at home becomes easy and practical.
• Some of the first oximeters, in the 70s, weighed 11 kg and were transported using a cart.
• The sensor at the end of the long cable weighed over a kilogram. And it was very uncomfortable when they attached it to the patient's ear!
• In the 70s, oximetry was added to the 4 vital signs [VITAL SIGNS] which include heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and breathing.
• Today, over 60% of oxygen users own a blood oxygen saturation meter or oximeter.
• An explanation of a plesoximeter for home use - here! Interview with Ziv Tsekh in the program on Channel 2