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Facts About CMS Pulse Oximeters

By Madeline Pittman


CMS pulse oximeters are pieces of equipment used to perform pulse oximetry. This kind of oximetry is a non-invasive technique for monitoring the level of saturation of Oxygen gas in the body. This equipment was first invented by a physician called Glenn Allan Millikan in 1940s. This first device operated on two wavelengths and was placed on the ear. The two wavelengths were red and green filters.

This original make was improved later by some physician named Wood in 1949. Wood integrated a pressure capsule for constricting blood out of an ear to get nil setting in a bid to get absolute O2 saturation level. The current models function on the same principals like the original one. The functioning principal was however hard to implement because of unstable light sources and/or photocells.

Oximetry itself was developed in the year 1972 at Nihon Kohden by 2 bioengineers, Takuo and Michio. These two bioengineers used the ratio between infrared and red light absorption of pulsating parts at measuring sites. A corporation called Biox did the first distribution of oximeter on large scale in the year 1981. By then, the appliance was chiefly utilized in operating rooms and corporations that manufactured it aligned most of their funds and advertising in this direction.

Oximetry is a vital noninvasive technique of establishing the quantity of oxygen in blood. It applies a pair of tiny LEDS, light emitting diodes facing face a photodiode through some translucent body tissue. Examples of translucent body parts used are earlobes, toe tips, and fingertips. One LED is infrared while the other is red. The red diode is normally 660 nm whereas the infrared diode is 910, 940, or 905 nm.

The absorption rate of the two wavelengths varies between the deoxygenated and oxygenated forms of oxygen in blood. The difference in absorption rate can be used to calculate the ratio between oxygenated and deoxygenated blood O2. The signal observed changes over time with every heart beat because arterial blood vessels contract and expand with every heartbeat. The monitor is able to ignore other tissues or nail makeup by monitoring only the changing section of the absorption spectrum.

By observing the changing absorption section only, the blood oxygen monitor can display the percentage of arterial hemo-globin in oxyhemoglobin configuration. People without COPD with hypoxic drive conditions have a reading that lies between 99 and 95 percent. Patients with hypoxic drive conditions usually have values that lie between 94 and 88 percent. Usually figures of one hundred percent might suggest carbon monoxide poisoning.

An oximeter is usable in many environments and applications where oxygenation of a person is unstable. Among the major environments of use consist of ward and hospital settings, surgical rooms, cockpits in un-pressurized airplane s, recovery units, and intensive care units. The disadvantage of these equipment is that it can only measure the percentage of saturation of blood hemoglobin and not ventilation. Hence therefore, it is not a full evaluation of respiratory sufficiency.

CMS pulse oximeters are made in several varieties. Some are inexpensive costing a few dollars whereas others are very sophisticated and expensive. They may be purchased from any shop that stocks such pieces of equipment.




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