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COMPANY NEWS


New imaging techniques showing blood flow through the skin can help burn diagnosis, Kate Ashley reports.


A new camera has been devel- oped to show the blood flow through skin, which could be used to help diagnose categories of se- verity for burns victims. The Swiss company Aimago has developed the technology using laser Dop- pler imaging, which allows colour variation to show the difference in intensity of blood circulation.


The range of depth of burns means it is very difficult to diagnose burns just by observing them, but an ac- curate diagnosis can be achieved with the camera 98% of the time. Certain hospitals in the UK are al- ready using a rival laser Doppler imager built by Moor Instruments, which was recently approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).


Greg Williams, the burns unit who heads at Chelsea and


Westminster Hospital, told the BBC: “There are a range of depths of burns between a superficial and a full-thickness burn where expe- rienced burn clinicians will get the diagnosis wrong about a third of the time.”


Michael Friedrich of Aimago said: “Red means high blood flow, blue means low blood flow. This infor- mation [the specialist] can use to see whether the burnt tissue still has blood supply or not.


“If the tissue has no blood supply it cannot recover, it's going to die so you need to do skin grafting. However,


if the skin is perfused


(i.e. blood is still flowing through it), then it's going to heal sponta- neously without scarring.”


FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit www.aimago.com


Inditherm CEO Nick Bettles


Carly Street, of Inditherm Medical, discusses the latest patient warming system technology.


NICE has recently issued guidance that supports the use of Inditherm patient warming systems.


After


rigorous evaluation of the clinical evidence, NICE concluded:


• The Inditherm patient warm- ing mattress is similar to that of forced air warming in maintaining patient core body temperature above 36°C and that the Indith- erm system may have practical advantages.


• The annual cost saving when the Inditherm system replaces Forced


Air Warming (FAW) is estimated to be £9,800 per operating thea- tre. This could save the NHS in England alone well over £15m if FAW was replaced by Inditherm’s mattress for eligible procedures in most of the 3,030 operating thea- tres in England.


The reusable device, with no con- sumables and low energy con- sumption, also offers environmen- tal and economic benefits.


NICE concluded that the use of the Inditherm mattress will also result in more patients being warmed with consequent cost savings from reduced surgical site infections.


FOR MORE INFORMATION


T: 01709 761000 E: cstreet@indithermplc.com W: www.inditherm.com/medical


Andy Tudor, product manager at Derbyshire-based BeaconMedæs, explains more about the company’s newest medical air product, mAIR.


BeaconMedæs and Atlas Copco have combined their expertise to develop a new generation of Medical Air Plant – incorporating the new dMED Dryer System, GA- MED VSD compressor and ES- MED Controller. We are proud to introduce the highest specification Medical Air Plant on the market.


Function


The field of patient care requires ultra clean, purified, medical air delivered to operating theatres and hospital beds with absolute reliability. A hospital’s medical air supply is a vital life support ser- vice, maintaining respiration of the critically ill during mechanical ventilation.


Compressors The highest specification of com-


pressor is recommended for the demanding medical environment, where frequent stop/starting and cycling of compressors is com- mon. mAIR incorporates Atlas Copco’s GA-MED screw com- pressor, a purposely engineered medical variant of the GA com- pressor.


As a hospitals flow demand varies throughout the day we can now offer Variable Speed Drive (VSD) screw compressors. Matching the speed of the compressor exactly to the demanded flow at any given time, this provides significant en- ergy savings.


Air Purifier and Dryer


The dMED includes a hopcolite catalyst as standard, so we can guaranty carbon monoxide levels beneath those stated in the Euro-


pean Pharmacopeia monograph, even in high urban areas.


Emphasis was also placed on reducing the footprint, as space within the plant room can often be confined.


Controller


When designing a new controller, improvements to the monitoring systems were essential. The ES- MED central controller can be connected to the hospital’s LAN computer network, enabling live status of the plant to be monitored from any PC terminal, includ- ing details of system alarms, run hours, pressure of supply, dew- point level etc.


It is also possible to include ad- ditional hardware which enables SMS text and email alerts to be


sent to the user. Additionally, user friendliness is enhanced with the easy to operate central plant con- troller with a 5.7” colour display.


Conclusion


The mAIR system meets the re- quirements of UK Department of Health HTM02-01 and is CE marked according to the MDD 93/42, offering our customers long lasting peace of mind.


With superior controls, high ef- ficiency compressors, easy in- stallation and maintenance the BeaconMedæs mAIR Medical Air plant is the leading product in its class.


FOR MORE INFORMATION


Andy Tudor, Product Manager T: +44 (0) 1246 474 242 E: andy.tudor@beaconmedaes.com


national health executive Sep/Oct 11 | 11


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