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London test site for anesthesia device

September 19, 2009

John Miner
The London Free Press
 

London, Ontario - University Hospital in London has been a recent ground for a high-tech anesthesia device never before used in North America.

Draeger, a European medical company with 11,000 employees, flew two of its anesthesia ventilators to London to be road-tested by top anesthetists from Canada and United States.

"Since we developed this machine we have been challenged with how do we take it to the largest market in the world, which is North America," said Rob Clark, a director of marketing for Draeger.

Clark said the company turned to the Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics centre at University Hospital because it could offer the best simulation of running the device on an actual patient.

While the device is widely used in European countries, it's never been approved for use in North America, he said. "We know it works and it works well," he said.

The device allows an anesthetist to dial in the precise amount of pain killer to be delivered to the patient and the machine takes care of delivering and monitoring the amount.

In North American operating rooms, anesthetists make the required adjustments manually.

"With the traditional machine you have to adjust several things based on what you see," said Clark.

What Draeger wanted to find out is if North American anesthetists could adjust to the machine.

"It's like taking a Boeing guy giving him an Airbus and saying could you fly this plane," said Clark.

Draeger also wants to know what changes it would have to make to meet North American safeguards.

London-wide head of anesthesia Dr. Davy Cheng welcomed the chance to work with the innovative technology. "It's exciting for all of us at CSTAR, London Health Sciences and the University of Western Ontario," he said.

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