NU 2017-052
INVENTORS Matthieu Kevin Chardon Charles Heckman* Santhanam Suresh* Michael David Johnson
ABSTRACT When possible, particularly in pediatric care, regional anesthesia is generally preferred over general anesthesia. However, pediatric regional anesthesia dosing guidelines are mostly unknown and based only on expert conjecture. Further complicating this problem, systemic toxic reactions can present vastly different in children than adults. Pediatric regional anesthesia is mostly performed under deep sedation, making it yet more difficult to qualify and quantify dosage efficacy. To address these pediatric-specific issues, Northwestern researchers have developed a tool that can measure the effectiveness of local anesthetic dosage in children. The solution involves a computer-controlled electromechanical system designed to administer anesthetic solution, in real-time, based on monitoring the compound action potential of the target nerve. The device has applications in adult patients as well and therefore has the potential for a large impact in the field of peripheral anesthesia (nerve block) and analgesia as a whole, because it is able to provide real-time feedback on the efficacy of the drug around a nerve. Given the nature of this device and its potential to increase safety and patient outcomes by reducing the number of patients who undergo general anesthesia, there may be an appetite within the clinical community for fast adoption.
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ADVANTAGES
IP STATUS Issued US Patent No. 10,751,469