Nihon Kohden Corporation announced that two of its projects, “Development of a rapid diagnosis support system for cancer surgery” and “Enhancement of the safety function of High Frequency Oscillation (HFO) ventilators” were designated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as program to support collaboration between hospitals and businesses for development and improvement of medical equipment and devices to solve unmet medical needs (supplementary budget, 2010FY). The purpose of these projects is to develop and improve medical devices to meet the needs and solve the issues in medical practice by the collaboration of medical institutions, research institutions and industry.
The details of our projects are as follows.
1. Development of a rapid diagnosis support system for cancer surgery to solve the issue of clinical pathologist shortage during radical resection
・Outline:
During resection of tumors, the surgeons often stop the procedure and ask clinical pathologists for a pathology assessment in order to determine the extent of resection. Reducing this down time and making an accurate determination are critical issues in medical practice.
Development of a more rapid diagnosis support system will greatly reduce this down time and improve the accuracy of analyzing tumor malignancy. Even if there is a shortage of clinical pathologists, this system will support surgeons in determining the extent of resection.
・Project Management:
Nihon Kohden Corporation
・Reconsignment Organizations:
Tokyo Women’s Medical University, The Cancer Institute Hospital of Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo University of Technology, Showa Optronics Co., Ltd., Imaigomu Co., Ltd., and DENSO SANGYO Co., Ltd.
2. Enhancement of the safety function of High Frequency Oscillation (HFO) ventilators
・Outline:
Currently, medical practice faces some issues related to ventilators. For example, medical staff may overlook a ventilator alarm or not understand the alarm, leading to slow response. Our project aims to prevent ventilator related medical errors. For example, a new function which can detect the CO2 of the patient will be attached to the exhaust port of HFO ventilators. This function enables medical staff to find a circuit disconnection or false intubation. The ventilators will also include another function which monitors the ventilator performance and generates an alarm if a problem occurs.
・Project Management:
Saitama Industrial Development Corporation
・Reconsignment Organizations:
Metran Co., Ltd., Nihon Kohden Corporation, and National Center for Child Health and Development
Development of new business is a key strategy in Nihon Kohden’s SPEED UP III mid-term business plan. Nihon Kohden pursues the development and introduction of innovative medical equipment designed to improve medical safety and security, support longer and healthier lives, and alleviate intractable disease based on our accumulated technology. These two projects for METI are part of our mid-term business plan as we continuously strive to develop new core business.
Nihon Kohden Corporation
