Facts About CMS Pulse Oximeters

By Madeline Pittman


CMS pulse oximeters are pieces of equipment used to perform pulse oximetry. This kind of oximetry is a non-invasive technique for monitoring the level of saturation of Oxygen gas in the body. This equipment was first invented by a physician called Glenn Allan Millikan in 1940s. This first device operated on two wavelengths and was placed on the ear. The two wavelengths were red and green filters.

This original model was later improved by some physician called Wood in 1949. Wood incorporated a pressure capsule for squeezing blood out of the ear to get zero setting in an attempt to get absolute Oxygen saturation level. The present models work on the same principals as the original one. The working principal was however difficult to implement due to unstable light sources and photocells.

Oximetry itself was initially developed in 1972 at Nihon Kohden by two bioengineers, Aoyagi and Kishi. These two utilized the ratio of infrared to red light absorption of pulsating constituents at measuring sites. Commercial distribution of oximeter happened in the year 1981 through a firm called Biox. By then, the device was majorly utilized in operating rooms and firms that produced it concentrated most of their advertising in the same direction.

Oximetry is a crucial noninvasive technique of determining the amount of oxygen in human body. It utilizes a pair of small LEDS, light emitting diodes, which face some photodiode through a translucent portion of the body. Examples of such translucent parts are fingertips, earlobes, and toe tips. One LED is red whereas the other is infrared. The red LED is usually 660 nm while the infrared LED is 940, 910, or 905 nm.

The rate of absorption of the two wavelengths differs between the oxygenated and deoxygenated forms of oxygen within the body. This difference in absorption speed can be utilized to estimate the ratio between deoxygenated and oxygenated blood O2. The observed signal changes over some period with every heartbeat because arterial blood veins contract and expand with each heartbeat. The monitor is capable of ignoring other tissues or nail make-ups by monitoring the changing portion of the absorption spectrum only.

By observing the changing absorption section only, the blood oxygen monitor can display the percentage of arterial hemo-globin in oxyhemoglobin configuration. People without COPD with hypoxic drive conditions have a reading that lies between 99 and 95 percent. Patients with hypoxic drive conditions usually have values that lie between 94 and 88 percent. Usually figures of one hundred percent might suggest carbon monoxide poisoning.

An oximeter is useful in a number of applications and environments where the oxygenation of a patient is unstable. Some of the major environments of application include intensive care units, surgical rooms, hospital and ward settings, recovery units, and cockpits in unpressurized aircrafts. The limitation of these gadget is that it only determines the saturation of hemoglobin and not ventilation. It is therefore not a complete measure of respiratory adequacy.

CMS pulse oximeters come in many varieties. Some are cheap costing a few dollars while others are very complex and expensive. They can be obtained from any store that deals with such pieces of equipment.




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