Individualized Oxygen Therapy for Preterm Infants
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for managing oxygen saturation in preterm infants are inadequate, leading to high morbidity and mortality due to the paradox of oxygen being both life-sustaining and toxic, with standard practices favoring higher oxygen exposure that may over-oxygenate some infants, increasing the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and other complications.
Innovation Solution
The method involves measuring pulmonary resilience and autonomic nervous system activity through heart rate signal analysis to dynamically adjust oxygen saturation targets, using heart rate variability and Heart Rate Characteristics to individualize oxygen therapy and minimize toxicity, thereby optimizing oxygen delivery and reducing morbidity and mortality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If higher oxygen saturation targets are used, then mortality risk decreases, but morbidity from oxygen toxicity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by individualizing oxygen therapy for each preterm infant based on their unique pulmonary resilience characteristics. Instead of applying a uniform high oxygen saturation target to all infants, the system tailors the oxygen target to each infant's specific physiological state, allowing some infants to receive lower oxygen targets while others receive higher targets, thus optimizing the balance between mortality reduction and toxicity prevention for each individual patient.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamics by continuously monitoring pulmonary resilience metrics and dynamically adjusting oxygen saturation targets in real-time. The oxygen therapy is not static but adapts continuously to changing physiological conditions, allowing the system to respond to evolving pulmonary status and adjust the balance between oxygen delivery and toxicity prevention as the infant's condition changes.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If lower oxygen saturation targets are used, then bronchopulmonary dysplasia incidence decreases, but mortality risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by determining individualized oxygen targets based on each infant's pulmonary resilience profile. Infants with high pulmonary resilience can tolerate lower oxygen targets, reducing BPD risk, while infants with low pulmonary resilience receive higher oxygen targets to prevent mortality. This individualized approach allows the system to optimize the trade-off between BPD prevention and mortality reduction for each specific patient.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by continuously monitoring pulmonary resilience metrics and using this information to adjust oxygen saturation targets. The system measures physiological parameters, processes them to assess pulmonary resilience, and feeds this information back to determine the appropriate oxygen target, creating a closed-loop control system that dynamically optimizes the balance between preventing BPD and preventing mortality.
3Reliability
If uniform high oxygen targets are applied to all preterm infants, then mortality is minimized, but oxygen exposure and toxicity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by replacing the uniform high oxygen target approach with individualized oxygen targets based on each infant's pulmonary resilience. This allows the system to minimize oxygen exposure for infants who can tolerate lower targets while maintaining adequate oxygen delivery for infants who require higher targets, thus reducing overall oxygen exposure and toxicity while still preventing mortality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements parameter changes by adjusting the oxygen saturation target parameter based on measured pulmonary resilience characteristics. Instead of maintaining a fixed high oxygen target for all infants, the system varies the oxygen target parameter to match each infant's physiological capacity, optimizing the balance between oxygen delivery and toxicity prevention.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of a method, system and/or device assist in dynamically optimizing preterm infants' oxygen saturation target range in a manner that is individualized to the infants' physiological state. In exemplary embodiments, oxygen saturation is dynamically targeted by monitoring the heart rate to determine a heart rate variability measurement and/or determining a pulmonary resilience measurement (PRM) in a preterm infant and adjusting an oxygen saturation target range for the preterm infant. In various embodiments, the heart rate variability measurement and/or PRM is evaluated against a pre-established threshold, and if the heart rate variability measurement and/or PRM meets or exceeds the pre-established threshold, the oxygen saturation target range is adjusted. Embodiments of the present disclosure can further optionally re-adjust the oxygen saturation target range at regular time intervals based on the heart rate variability measurement and/or PRM.