TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS IN PULSE OXIMETER

Pulse oximeters are class of non-invasive medical devices used for monitoring of blood oxygen saturation in critical care settings, operation rooms, general wards, home care settings, ambulatory surgical centers and recreational activities where continuous monitoring of oxygen is required. Pulse oximeter measures arterial of peripheral blood saturation, these devices need sensors to detect the oxygen level whereas in wearable pulse oximeter devices such as fingertip do not need sensors. These devices use the spectrophotometric methodology and measure oxygen saturation by illuminating the skin and measuring changes in light absorption of oxygenated (oxyhemoglobin) and deoxygenated blood (reduced hemoglobin) using two light wavelengths between 660 nm (red) and 940 nm (infrared). Variation in oxygen level may lead to several complications such as hypoxia, and polycythemia, which increases the risk of clotting and can hurt brain function. Hence, to prevent brain damage, heart failure and death continuous monitoring of oxygen level in blood is needed.

Technological advancements such as the high-resolution pulse oximeter, organic LEDs in pulse oximeter and development of pulse oximeter in the prevention of respiratory arrest and death from opioid overdose are the factors influencing the growth of cerebral and pulse oximeter market. Traditional oximeters use a sampling rate that can be 4 seconds or more and the signal resolution is rounded to the nearest 1.0% SpO2. “High resolution” in pulse oximetry typically refers to signal resolution of 0.1% SpO2, which showed better detection of shorter apneas and improved reproducibility. High-Resolution pulse oximeters (HRPO) incorporate a sampling rate of >1 second. Lower sampling rates can underestimate event amplitudes to apneas and miss events. This can cause an artificially low oxygen desaturation index (ODI). High-resolution pulse oximeters, such as Minolta 300i and SleepSat, have a signal resolution of 0.1% and short averaging times, resulting in higher sensitivity high-resolution pulse oximetry will be best suited to detect minor sleep-related breathing disorders if it includes both storage of SpO2 to the tenth (0.1%), and data stored at 1 Hz (once per second).

Organic LEDs are surrogates for conventional sensors (red and infra-red light). OLED’s are developed with green and red organic light with 532 nm and 626 nm wavelength used with an organic photodiode (OPD), organic pulse oximeters have received significant attention from researchers due to many advantages including their relatively low cost, simple fabrication and their ability to be fabricated on flexible substrates, for comfortable wearable medical devices.

Opioid overdose occurs when there are so many opioids or a combination of opioids and other drugs in the body that the victim is not responsive to stimulation and/or breathing is inadequate. This lack of oxygen eventually stops other vital organs like the heart, then the brain. This causes a person to become unconscious and induces coma, and then death occurs. With opioid overdoses, surviving or dying wholly depends on breathing and oxygen. Pulse oximeters prevent respiratory arrest and death due to opioid overdose by functioning to restore conscious control of breathing, pulse oximeter detects hypoxemia, or abnormal. Dedicated pulse oximeter are being developed to monitor opioid overdose and recently has received regulatory approval, for instance, In October 2019, The FDA granted Breakthrough Device status to Med-botics, LLC’s Oxalert EPOTM (Enhanced Pulse Oximeter) device. The wrist-worn device is designed to prevent respiratory arrest and death from opioid overdose by alerting patient.

According to IQ4I analysis the pulse oximeter the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.7% from 2019 to 2026 to reach 2.2 billion by 2026. Major players offering cerebral oximeter market are Major players of this market includes Medtronic PLC (Ireland), Nonin Medical Inc. (U.S.), Masimo Corporation (Switzerland), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd. (China), Smiths Medical (U.S.), Rossmax International Ltd. (Taiwan), Heal Force Bio-Meditech Holdings Limited (China), Nihon Kohden Corporation (Japan) and Contec Medical Systems Co., Ltd. (China)