Philips Respironics, Murrysville, Pa, introduces the Respironics NM3 respiratory profile monitor, a standalone monitoring system that can be combined with all conventional ventilators. The NM3 gives clinicians the information necessary to assess the patient’s respiratory status, titrate important ventilator parameters, and optimize weaning trials that may decrease the length of mechanical ventilation.

Integrated true mainstream capnography and sensitive flow measurement allow the NM3 to non-invasively monitor a variety of critical parameters for intubated patients, such as VCO2, alveolar minute ventilation, and Vd/Vt. Sidestream capabilities, provided by LoFlo technology, permit end-tidal capnography pre- and post-intubation for a continuum of care in acute settings.

"Ventilator management of infants and children was enhanced with the analysis of continuous volumetric capnography. Volumetric capnography, including monitoring of Vd/Vt, MVALV, and VCO2, decreased the length of ventilation in a heterogeneous population of infants and children by 2.5 days, a clinically significant 31%. It is anticipated that the decrease in LOV would be associated with a decrease in hospital costs and length of stay,” concluded a recent abstract presented by Donna Hamel and Ira Cheifetz, professor of pediatric critical care medicine at Duke Children’s Hospital, to The European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care.

According to the Hamel and Cheifetz abstract, "The monitoring of volumetric capnography allows for mechanical ventilatory strategies to be designed with clear, precise, objective criteria resulting in clinically significant, positive effects on patient outcome."

"By continuously monitoring physiologic parameters, the NM3 helps clinicians evaluate patients’ cardio-respiratory status while supporting treatment decisions with objective data. Many advances have been made in regards to ventilation but few have the potential to simplify the delivery of care to critically ill patients like the NM3," Randy Whitfield, vice president and general manager of Philips Hospital Respiratory Care said in an announcement.