Mainstream End Tidal Carbon Dioxide Monitor Prototype
Project Name:
Mainstream End Tidal Carbon Dioxide Monitor
Project Purposes:
We want to make anesthesia monitors affordable for each anesthetist in the developing world. The End tidal carbon dioxide is a major part in practicing anesthesia. Here is an excerpt from Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health.
“End tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) is the level of carbon dioxide that is released at the end of an exhaled breath. ETCO2 levels reflect the adequacy with which carbon dioxide (CO2) is carried in the blood back to the lungs and exhaled. Available evidence has established that ETCO2 measurement can provide an indication of cardiac output and pulmonary blood flow.[2,3,4] Non-invasive methods for ETCO2 measurement include capnometry and capnography. Capnometry provides a numerical value for ETCO2. In contrast, capnography delivers a more comprehensive measurement that is displayed in both graphical (waveform) and numerical form. For this reason, capnography is currently the most widely recommended method for monitoring ETCO2 [5,6,7,8].
Capnography devices are configured as either sidestream or mainstream. In a sidestream configuration, the CO2 sensor is located in the monitoring device, which is at a distance from the patient. The exhaled CO2 is diverted from the airway into the device via a sampling tube of six to eight feet in length, which is attached to the breathing circuit fitted to the patient. In the case of a mainstream configuration, the CO2 sensor and a sampling cell are integrated into a small device that connects directly at the airway, between the breathing circuit and endotracheal tube (ETT). Sidestream devices can monitor both intubated and non-intubated patients, while mainstream devices are most often limited to intubated patients.[9,10] Sidestream measurement has been the most common type of ETCO2 measurement modality in Canadian facilities, even as a number of new, innovative, and ultraportable mainstream capnography devices are becoming available. Whether sidestream or mainstream, capnography devices are available as hand-held portable devices or as a module or component integrated into other medical equipment, such as defibrillators, anesthesiology machines, and patient-monitoring systems.”
CADTH Health Technology Assessment, No. 142
Authors: Marina Richardson,1 Kristen Moulton,1 Danielle Rabb,1 Shawn Kindopp,2 and Tushar Pishe3. Charles Yan,4 Ilke Akpinar,4 Bernice Tsoi,1 and Anderson Chuck4.
Affiliations:
1 CADTH, Ottawa, Ontario 2 Surrey Memorial Hospital, Surrey, British Columbia 3 New Brunswick Department of Health, Saint John, New Brunswick 4 Institute of Health Economics, Edmonton, Alberta
Ottawa (ON): Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; 2016 Mar.
Future Plans:
We plan to integrate this device with pulse oximetry and ECG for a compact, portable anesthesia monitor.
