Telford, PA - Draeger announces that it has embedded continuous noninvasive blood pressure measurement technology into its patient monitoring systems. This technology from CNSystems, which has successfully supported patients in Europe for more than four years, is now available in the United States. Draeger is the first and only vendor to offer CNAP technology, which can help hospitals increase patient safety and reduce costs.

The Infinity CNAP (Continuous Noninvasive Arterial Pressure) SmartPod provides a simple, accurate method for continuously measuring systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure. CNAP technology provides the beat-to-beat vigilance of blood pressure changes equivalent to an invasive arterial line, while avoiding risks of complications and infections associated with the insertion of A-lines. The system is extremely easy to apply and use, and requires minimal training.

"Two of the biggest trends that continue in healthcare today are technologies that provide continuous data and are noninvasive to the patient," says Product Manager David Blackmun. "With the Infinity CNAP SmartPod, Draeger provides hospitals with both of these attributes, which together can help improve patient safety and outcomes, while also saving costs."

Seamless Monitoring of Blood Pressure

Raj Rane, Senior Clinical Engineer at Draeger, explains the clinical benefits of the technology: "CNAP fills the void in situations where NBP is not continuous and fast enough to detect critical blood pressure changes, and an A-line is too invasive, complicated, and expensive. In the past, the physician either had to place an invasive arterial catheter or rely completely on an oscillometric measurement, which only provides a value intermittently. CNAP measures the blood pressure painlessly, noninvasively and continuously in real time - thus detecting changes immediately. CNAP can also be used prior to insertion of the A-line, thus providing seamless blood pressure monitoring in the ICU or OR."

The system works by integrating a light-emitting diode and detector into a double-finger sensor cuff. As the sensor detects changes in blood volume based on the amount of light transmitted through the finger, the cuff pressure closely follows the instantaneous pulsatile blood pressure changes in the finger arteries. Blood pressure can then be calculated beat-to-beat, after calibration with the built-in standard oscillometric measurement (NBP) of the monitor - and a high resolution, real-time arterial pressure waveform and systolic, diastolic and mean pressure value are displayed on the monitor.

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