Two children’s hospitals in California have adopted the AirWave Monitoring System for NICU patients, which provides continuous endotracheal tube monitoring, according to manufacturer SonarMed.

The AirWave Airway Monitoring System is a noninvasive, adjunctive device that provides direct, precise, real-time monitoring of endotracheal tube position, obstruction and movement to help healthcare providers detect and reduce potentially dangerous or fatal endotracheal tube related complications and conditions, according to the company’s website.

As the only FDA-cleared airway monitoring system, the AirWave uses unique, patented sound wave technology to provide real-time monitoring and detection of endotracheal tube movement, position and obstruction.

CHOC Children’s Hospital (CHOC) and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford are the latest facilities to adopt the technology as part of SonarMed’s controlled-market roll-out.

“Intubated infants especially are exceedingly fragile and a high level of care is needed to avoid breathing complications,“ explains Dr. Vijay Dhar, medical director, CHOC NICU. “The AirWave allows our neonatologists and respiratory staff to easily understand if the endotracheal tube tip is moving, if there are obstructions blocking airflow and where the tube is positioned to assure proper placement.”

To date, five hospitals have adopted the AirWave.

“The AirWave is steadily becoming the standard of care for adopting hospitals’ NICU patients,” said Tom Bumgardner, CEO of SonarMed. “As we continue to partner with high-caliber institutions in our limited market release, we are pleased to offer a clinical solution that addresses a well-known clinical challenge: to notify the clinical staff of complications related to intubated patients, especially premature babies. AirWave monitoring technology has repeatedly alerted NICU staff of arising complications at the moment they start. We thank CHOC and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford in joining us and we look forward to continued clinical success for each of their patients.”

More information is available on the company’s website.