Sanovas Awarded Seminal Patent for Imaging Stylet for Intubation

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., June 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanovas, Inc., a life science asset holding company and medical technology accelerator, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued patent # 9,662,466 for the company's Imaging Stylet for Intubation.  

There are over 40 million Endotracheal Intubations performed annually in the U.S., making it the single largest interventional procedure. Nearly 2 million of those procedures are complex and challenging to perform. The LightSpeed Intubation Systemtm enables quicker and safer positioning of the endotracheal tube without losing control of the airway.

In critically injured, ill or anesthetized patients, it is often necessary to insert an endotracheal tube into a person's airway to facilitate ventilation of the lungs and to prevent the possibility of asphyxiation or airway obstruction. The most common routes of inserting the endotracheal tube are oral, in which the tube is passed through the mouth and larynx into the trachea, and nasal, wherein the tube is passed through the nose and larynx into the trachea.

Sanovas' subsidiary Intubation Science, Inc. will bring the new technology to market.

"Intubation Science's LightSpeed Intubation System offers a new and improved approach to endotracheal intubation and is intended to make this procedure, safer, faster and easier to perform," said Larry Gerrans, Sanovas CEO and the LSI's co-inventor. "There are a myriad of clinicians who have purview over airway management, from Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) to Anesthesiologists, and their skills and experience vary widely. The LSI system has been designed to improve procedural accuracy and speed and to make airway management safer and more reproducible for ALL patients and clinicians, every time."

The insertion of the endotracheal tube often involves serious risks, such as damage to the vocal cords and a prolonged intubation procedure in which the patients breathing is stopped, but oxygen is not yet delivered to the patient as the tube has not yet been inserted. It is estimated that about one third of deaths occurring during a surgical procedure while under anesthesia for morbidly obese patients are associated with the intubation process. Some of the difficulties that persons performing endotracheal intubation encounter include the restriction of view as the tube is inserted, variations in the anatomy of the patients, an uncomfortable and unnatural position of the person performing the procedure while holding the instrument, and the necessity for rapid intubation.

"Current systems can pose challenges to clinicians, especially during difficult cases, as they do not provide sufficient visualization of and navigation to the anatomy," said Dr. Chris Baker who is a Board Certified Physician in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital and the co-designer of the LightSpeed Intubation System. The biggest challenge of the intubation process is to accurately and quickly advance the endotracheal tube (ETT) through the vocal cords without causing damage.  Improper placement can result in injury, delayed care and in some cases, death to the patient."

The LightSpeed Intubation System's uni-body, side-loading design saves space, mitigates displacement of soft tissues and enables doctors to facilitate airway placement quickly.

The LSI's revolutionary design features an integrated optical stylet with a deflectable tip and steerable stylet in order to better navigate and visualize the anatomy throughout the procedure. The optical stylet gives direct visualization into the trachea confirming that the endotracheal tube clears the vital anatomy of the larynx.  Further, since it is steerable, it ensures the inflation cuff is correctly positioned between the larynx and the carina with precision.  Additionally, the system eliminates the need for costly chest x-rays required to confirm positioning.   An additional feature of LSI is that its optical stylet serves as an ETT 'switching stick' for those ventilated patients who need a tube exchange.

"Intubation can be tricky! Traditional systems are bulky and inflexible. They can be difficult to maneuver through narrow anatomy and can cause life threatening complications if the endotracheal is misplaced in the esophagus, which happens. The LightSpeed Intubation System addresses common difficulties of intubation with its integrated, flexible design, visualization and navigation capabilities.  This allows doctors to perform the procedure with precision," said Gerrans.

About Intubation Science, Inc.

There are over 40 million Endotracheal Intubations performed annually (US) with nearly 2 million being complex and challenging to perform. The company's LightSpeed Intubation System tm, a new and improved solution for Endotracheal Intubation will make this most widely performed of all surgical procedures, safer, faster and easier to achieve.  Intubation Science, Inc. is a subsidiary of Sanovas, Inc.

Contact:
Steve Goldsmith
[email protected] 
415-729-9391 x1023

SOURCE Sanovas