Experiments in the operating room, once considered rare, lonely accidents, are probably more common than before. The research organization of the nonprofit organization ECRI has published a report that hundreds of fires occur during the approximately 50 million inpatient and outpatient procedures that are performed annually, which often leads to serious injury or death. This is a significant increase from 50-100, previously evaluated by patient safety organizations.
Some medical groups say that fires have increased over the past two decades with the increasing use of lasers and instruments using electric current. The ECRI estimates that during operations on the head, face, neck, or chests, 44 percent of surgical interventions occur in which electrical surgical instruments and lasers are too close to the oxygen that patients breathe.
The current ideology is that the basic elements of fire — heat, fuel, and oxidizer — are always present during the operation, and only by training and establishing stricter recommendations can these terrible accidents be prevented. Unfortunately, there are several products that can reduce the risk of fires and explosions in the operating room. This suggests that the market for such products represents a potential profitable opportunity for a medical device and pharmaceutical companies to focus their research and development. The patent review in a similar way demonstrates little activity in this area, which again leads to the conclusion that opportunity confers inventive innovators.
Fuel abundantly in OR
Fuels commonly used in the operating room include preparative agents such as degreasers (ether and acetone), aerosol adhesives and tinctures such as hibitan, merthiolate and duraprep. Other types of fuel include accessories: curtains, bathrobes, masks, caps, caps, shoe covers, tools and equipment for curtains and covers, egg box mattresses, mattresses and pillows, blankets, gauze, sponges, dressings, ointments, such as petroleum jelly, paraffin wax and white wax, flexible endoscopes, coating for fiber optic cables, gloves, stethoscope tubes, smoke pipes and other equipment / consumables used in OR.
Oxidants in OR include oxygen-containing mixtures above 21 percent oxygen, used to ensure proper oxygenation of the patient during anesthesia. Whenever the oxygen concentration exceeds 21%, there is an oxygen-enriched atmosphere with the potential to feed fires. Oxygen is supplied through anesthetic devices, ventilators, sockets, or gas cylinders, all of which are potentially dangerous. Oxygen can also come from the thermal decomposition of nitrous oxide, which should also be considered as an oxygen-enriched atmosphere. Materials such as curtains absorb oxygen and retain it for some time, which facilitates their ignition, causing them to burn faster and hotter, and they are much more difficult to extinguish.
The key controls the heat sources
The introduction of lasers, electrosurgical instruments and other exothermic surgical instruments significantly increased the incidence and risk associated with fires in the operating room. ECRI notes that the key to fire prevention involving surgical patients is to control various sources of heat OR and prevent their contact with fuel. In addition, however, the potential for reducing the capacity of materials will burn. Currently, the medical community is completely dependent on alcohol-based antiseptic products and surgical textiles that trap oxygen in their fibers. With the current surgical antiseptic industry, worth over $ 500 million, a company that can develop a refractory alternative that offers the same antimicrobial protection that exists in traditional alcohol-based antiseptics can dominate this market and become an industry leader and innovator.
Just a few recently published patents.
However, few companies seem to be innovating in this area. For example, patent activity implies that medical devices and pharmaceutical companies are not aware of the opportunity that exists in technologies that could launch them as new industry leaders. In fact, several recent patents relate to preventive technological innovations that are specifically designed for individual inventors.
One such patent, for example, describes a refractory phosphate composition with antibacterial, antiviral and fungicidal properties, which are said to be environmentally friendly, non-toxic, non-carcinogenic and non-allergic. Another patent describes a surgical drape, designed to prevent the accumulation of trapped oxygen and thereby reduce the risk of fire. Another describes an oxygen sensor system that will sound if the oxygen level is unsafe.
The fact that these fires have been significantly underestimated, but is now gaining extensive experience in the media, increases the need for innovative companies to minimize these risks through their development strategies. The lack of innovative patents indicates that there is a potential to use strictly scarce market opportunities. Are you ready for the challenge?
