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Researchers Announce Major New Findings on the Health Dangers of Transient
Oxygen Desaturations
Publish Date : 10/28/2004 3:03:00 PM   Source : Health News Onlypunjab.com

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have concluded that mild oxygen
desaturations of the blood, once thought to be of limited harm, contribute to
long-term impaired mental function, such as decreased cognitive ability, poor
academic performance, and behavioral disorders, such as Attention
Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) in children. Prolonged as well as transient
oxygen desaturations can occur as a result of many diseases and disabilities
and are especially common and critical in newborns and children. The paper,
"The Effect of Chronic or Intermittent Hypoxia on Cognition in Childhood: A
Review of the Literature," was published this month in the September 2004 issue
of Pediatrics.


A team of international researchers, led by Dr. Joel L. Bass of Massachusetts
General Hospital, performed a comprehensive review of literature related to
oxygen desaturation in children, spanning the years 1966 - 2000. 788 studies
over nearly forty years were reviewed for inclusion. The researchers
established stringent criteria of association for desaturation and decreased
quality of life and the reviewed papers were all judged according to these
criteria. 55 of these studies were judged to have used the most powerful
methods of statistical analysis and data collection. The literature strongly
supports the thesis that oxygen desaturations, either chronic or intermittent,
and childhood cognitive problems are highly correlative.

Of the direct evidence observed, 78.2% of the articles showed that these
desaturations have an adverse effect in children, leading to short and long
term cognitive impairment. In the group of studies examining the effects of
brief desaturations brought on by sleep-disordered breathing, for example, one
report showed a mean IQ drop of 12 points in children with snoring (a condition
closely associated with oxygen desaturation).

Reviewed studies by Blunden et al, O'Brien et al, Rosenthal, and Stradling et
al showed symptoms of decreased IQ, impaired attention and ADHD at saturations
between 85% and 94%, levels that would be considered not serious by most pulse
oximetry manufacturers and in some clinical institutions.

"Some of the adverse effects were noted in reports with oxygen saturations just
below the range of normal for age," stated the authors. "This information
should be taken into account when managing clinical conditions and designing
devices that may expose infants or children to any level of chronic or
intermittent hypoxia, with the goal of minimizing potential risk whenever
possible. Such risks should also be balanced with the potential risks of oxygen
therapy."

Mike Petterson, RRT, Senior Director of Clinical Research for Masimo
Corporation, stated, "This study comes at a critical time when some in our
industry have been advocating that brief desaturations are 'trivial' and are
not necessary to track. We believe there is no such a thing as a 'trivial'
desaturation. Clinicians need to be made aware of every desaturation so that
they can best care for their patients. When we developed Masimo SET, our goal
was not to eliminate alarms; it was to eliminate false alarms and catch all
true alarms. That's what we were told by clinicians: 'give us the highest
fidelity and let us decide what to do for the patients.' Hence, the
introduction of Masimo SET in 1996 and, in 2000, Masimo SET with FastSat, which
provides the highest fidelity while rejecting false alarms. Today, Masimo SET
has been reported to be the only pulse oximetry technology that delivers over
95% sensitivity and specificity. We are committed to pulse oximetry that
accurately reports the depth and duration of oxygen desaturation in all
clinical situations, including during periods of patient movement and low
perfusion."

About Masimo

Masimo, founded in 1989, is the innovator and leader of read-through motion and
low perfusion pulse oximetry. Masimo develops, licenses, and markets advanced
medical signal processing technologies and products for the non-invasive
monitoring. Masimo Signal Extraction Technology, or Masimo SET, represents the
standard of care for pulse oximeters. Over 90 clinical studies support the
conclusion that Masimo SET is the most effective pulse oximeter in the world.
Masimo is headquartered in Irvine, California. Additional information about
Masimo and its products can be found at www.masimo.com.

Masimo is currently offering a $250,000 guarantee to hospitals seeking an
upgrade to next generation pulse oximetry. If Masimo does not outperform
Nellcor in an objective clinical trial, Masimo will pay that hospital $250,000
towards the purchase of Nellcor oximetry. Contact Masimo for more details....