THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Open-heart surgeries in the country is set to undergo a paradigm shift through Chitra Magnetic Blood Flowmeter. The first-of-its-kind indigenous blood flowmeter - a critical parameter to measure the outcome of open-heart surgeries in which the blood flow in various blood vessels will get monitored - was developed by Thiruvananthapuram-based Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST).
According to the institute, the induction of the device will not only reduce the expense of open-heart surgeries considerably but will also help track the results of the surgery performed in a fast manner.
“India is currently fully dependent on imported blood flowmeters for precise measurement of blood flow rates. This is an expensive affair, with each unit costing up to `25 lakh to `30 lakh and can be afforded only by very few super-speciality hospitals in India,” said Asha Kishore, director, SCTIMST.
The indigenous technology will bring down the cost of the device considerably, thus making it available to public hospitals and paving way for safer and less expensive cardiac surgeries.”The institute is of the assessment that the product will be priced under `1 lakh. The device which is of palm-size measures the flow rate of blood using a novel magnetic method. and a signal conditioning technique.
How it works
According to the director, the device has a mechanism to produce a magnetic field, an electronic measurement system and a disposable biocompatible tube fitted with electrodes which are kept over the magnetic field. When blood passes through the tube, under the influence of this magnetic field, a voltage is generated across the electrodes which are proportional to the rate of blood flow. The novel method of generation of the magnetic field and detection of the voltage gives the device better accuracy of measurements.
The technical know-how of this portable battery device has been transferred to EnProducts, a Kochi-based firm, for commercial production. The team behind the development of the device is Sarath S Nair, Vinod Kumar V, Sreedevi V and Nagesh DS of the Department of Medical Devices Engineering in Biomedical Technology wing of the institute.