TORONTO – Within a week of completing clinical trials the chest radiography AI tool developed by Vancouver, B.C.-based 1Qbit Inc. has been given the all-clear from Health Canada for deployment across the country. The XrAI was originally developed to better identify patients with respiratory illness including SARS, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB), but then in February was tested on a publicly available data set of COVID-19 X-ray images.
Reports of unusually high death rates for COVID-19 patients on ventilators have raised alarms, and some doctors are looking to reduce reliance on the breathing machines when possible. To advance that goal, Lungpacer Medical Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, has obtained an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. FDA for its Lungpacer diaphragmatic pacing therapy system (DPTS) for immediate use in ventilator patients at high risk of weaning failure, including patients with the novel coronavirus.
Pittsburgh-based Alung Technologies Inc. has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. FDA for its Hemolung Respiratory Assist System (RAS) to treat lung failure caused by COVID-19. The technology could help to ease demand for ventilators, which have been in short supply in coronavirus hot spots, and provide an alternative for patients who can’t tolerate mechanical ventilation.
Case Western Reserve University spinout Synapse Biomedical Inc. has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. FDA for its Transaeris diaphragm pacing system (DPS) device to prevent and treat ventilator-induced diaphragm dysfunction (VIDD).
BEIJING – Med-tech firm Shanghai Asclepius Meditec Co. Ltd. says it has developed a hydrogen-oxygen nebulizer that can help relieve the shortage of ventilators, highlighting the potential of hydrogen-oxygen therapy in tackling COVID-19. Named the AMS-H-03, this class III medical respiratory device can produce three liters of mixed gas containing hydrogen and oxygen by using water electrolysis and can run continuously for 24 hours, according to the company.
PARIS – Medical gases specialists Air Liquide SA, of Paris, along with Peugeot SA, Schneider Electric SE and Valeo SA have joined together in a consortium to manufacture ventilators in a time when there is a critical shortage.
The U.S. FDA has granted breakthrough device designation to Vapotherm Inc. for its Oxygen Assist Module (OAM), for use with its Precision Flow assistive breathing systems. The new module is designed to aid clinicians in maintaining a targeted blood oxygen range in patients requiring oxygen therapy.
An artificial intelligence-based system can accurately detect COVID-19 using thoracic CT scans in patients with respiratory symptoms, according to a preprint study published on arXiv.org. The system can also help monitor patients with the disease. Other teams have employed AI to speed diagnosis and develop clarity on the signature appearance of the disease in the lungs of symptomatic patients.
Charleston, S.C.-based startup ABM Respiratory Care has received U.S. FDA clearance for its first product, an airway clearance system known as Biwaze Cough. The portable device helps to remove secretions for people who are unable to cough or clear away secretions effectively on their own due to injury or disease.
PARIS – With more than 10,000 people now infected, 3,626 hospitalized and 450 having died, France is in third place of European countries most affected by the coronavirus epidemic, after Italy (35,700 cases) and Spain (13,910 cases). The exponential spread of COVID-19 has led to a surge in demand for respiratory therapy equipment in intensive care units.
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