https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4476500/pdf/nihms471868.pdf

Pulse oximetry has previously relied on a major assumption to give clinicians the information needed to treat patients with hypoxia; that the saturation the device is measuring is oxyhemoglobin. But this assumption has a very real and potentially fatal consequence. Carboxyhemoglobin can give false normal readings for the traditional pulse oximiter, which uses infrared light to measure the saturation of hemoglobin molecules not differentiating between oxygen and carbon monoxide binding. A new device, called the Rad-57, utilized multi-wavelength detection to distinguish between the oxygen binding and carbon monoxide binding. This circumvents the need to make such a dangerous assumption and has the potential to prevent misdiagnosis of a common cause of death.

Derek Sonnenberg

Hannah Stein

Colin Stone

Nadarra Stokes

Richard Sanders