Nellcor
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Nellcor is a subsidiary of Covidien, formerly Tyco Healthcare. Originally the creation of Dr. William NEw, Jack LLoyd and Jim CORenman, Nellcor introduced the first commercially successful pulse oximeter in 1983, based on a technology originally developed in 1972, by Aoyagi at Nihon Kohden using the ratio of red to infrared light absorption of pulsating components at the measuring site and first commercialized by BIOX/Ohmeda in 1981.[1]
The human body can withstand only a very brief period of insufficient oxygenation. A few minutes without air can result in death. Anesthesia, for all of its clinical benefits, can be a dangerous procedure because of the possibility of inadvertent asphyxiation. Pulse oximetry reduced this danger. Using non-invasive optical technology coupled with intuitive visual and audio alarms, pulse oximetry warns clinicians of impending ventilation disaster sufficiently ahead of time to allow for the correction of errors before patient safety was compromised. When the technology was introduced, it was seen as a new standard of care. [2]
