Vasamed announces patent for a novel pulse oximeter

May 25 2004

Vasamed, developer and supplier of hemodynamic monitoring products, announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted it a method patent for a novel pulse oximeter that incorporates signals from a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) and an impedance cardiograph (ICG) to accomplish the measurement of oxygen saturation.

Both LDV and ICG are used in products owned by Vasamed. "Our goal for the past five years has been to create a non-invasive hemodynamic platform that incorporates universally recognized parameters that are proprietary to our company. To that end, we may now add this unique pulse oximeter to our collection which includes a proprietary non-invasive cardiac output (NICO) system that uses ICG, a skin perfusion pressure system that uses LDV and a tissue perfusion system that uses carbon dioxide sensing.

Our business and intellectual property strategy continues to be on target as we position our hemodynamic platform in the increasingly competitive office-based diagnostic business." Vasamed is a technology development company specializing in low-cost, non- invasive vascular diagnostic systems for non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring. Products developed by Vasamed include the CapnoProbe(TM) sensor system for the measurement of sublingual CO2. Vasamed licensed an application of CapnoProbe technology to Nellcor in 2001 which has positioned the product as an early warning signal of tissue hypoperfusion and possible organ failure.

Vasamed manufactures and supplies LASERDOPP PV2000, a skin perfusion pressure and pulse volume waveform diagnostic for quantitative evaluation of small vessel disease in patients with chronic foot ulcers, diabetes and other peripheral arterial disease. Skin perfusion pressures are not affected by edema, anemia, medial calcification or certain other conditions that limit the usefulness of other measurement technologies.

For more information about Vasamed technology and services, see the company's web sites at http://www.opsi.com and at http://www.vasamedics.com . For more information about Nellcor(R) CapnoProbe(TM) Sublingual (SL) System, see http://www.nellcor.com .