Gish Gains Japanese Clearance for Stat-Sat Monitor, Arterial Filter

Gish Biomedical, a wholly owned subsidiary of CardioTech International, has received Japanese clearance to sell its Stat-Sat oxygen saturation monitor as well as its disposable arterial filter that separates air from blood and filters particles from the circuit during bypass surgery.

The heart-lung machine (also known as cardiopulmonary bypass) entails venous blood being withdrawn from the patient and drained into a reservoir. From there, the blood is pumped through an oxygenator. Oxygen is delivered at the interface between the blood and the device, permitting the red blood cells to absorb oxygen molecules directly.

The heart-lung machine then pumps the newly oxygenated blood back into the patient through a tube connected to the arterial circulation. During this process, which may take several hours, the blood is continually watched with the Gish Stat-Sat in-line monitor, and the Gish arterial filter is used to return de-aerated and microfiltered blood to the patient.