( Study released at the Pediatric Academi...)Breaking Multi-Center Study: Masimo SET Pulse Oximetry Technology,Shown to Significantly Lower Instances of Severe Retinopathy of,Prematurity in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants,Health

IRVINE, Calif., May 30, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- Masimo, the inventor of Pulse CO-Oximetry and Read-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, reported that a new independent study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies' (PAS) Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada earlier this month showed that switching to Masimo SET pulse oximetry technology can reduce the risk of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants developing retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) by 40%.(1) One of the most common causes of visual impairment and blindness in premature infants, ROP has been shown to be exacerbated by hyperoxia caused by the excessively high levels of supplemental oxygen often used to treat these patients, due in large part to unreliable oxygen level measurements from pulse oximeters not able to maintain accuracy during conditions of motion and low perfusion.

In the study entitled Clinical Practice and SpO2 Technology in the Prevention of ROP in ELBW Infants, a team of neonatologists from hospitals in Georgia, Texas and New Jersey headed by Armando Castillo, Richard Deulofeut, and Augusto Sola examined whether a change in pulse oximetry (SpO2) technology could impact treatment effect and relative risk reduction of ROP in ELBW infants. "The impact of (differences in pulse oximetry technologies) in reducing ROP is not easy to discriminate" the researchers stated in the study. "Infants under our care were exposed to a unique situation, where a universal change in clinical practice was implemented by the same health care team members, but SpO2 technology after the clinical change was not uniform."

As a result, the research team was able to analyze ROP rates before and after identical clinical practice changes at two di
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