Technological Leadership
In addition to designing medical equipment for hospital and clinical use, Nihon Kohden actively contributes to the advance of medical technology. Cutting edge research by Nihon Kohden developers has been published in a variety of medical journals and turned into a number of pioneering products.
Pulse oximetry and pulse spectrophotometry
Pulse oximetry is a method to non-invasively monitor oxygen saturation in the arterial blood using a clip-on finger or foot probe. Prior to this, blood oxygen saturation could only be measured by withdrawing arterial blood and measuring the sample in a blood gas analyzer. This provided only a series of disconnected snapshots. Pulse oximetry is non-invasive, instantaneous, continuous and accurate.
Pulse oximetry was particularly valuable in life support in anesthesia. In the USA, several states require by law the use of a pulse oximeter, or its equivalent, in all surgery.
The principle of pulse oximetry was developed by Takuo Aoyagi, a Nihon Kohden scientist, and Nihon Kohden introduced the world's first commercial model, OLV-5100, in 1975. All pulse oximeters today are based on Dr. Aoyagi's original principle of pulse oximetry.
In a 1972 presentation "Pulse Oximetry: Its Origin and Development," Dr. Aoyagi said that "pulse oximetry is no more than the first fruits of a new concept of noninvasive monitoring of the blood which might be called 'pulse spectrophotometry.'" More recently, Nihon Kohden's DDG analyzer for less invasive blood volume measurement is one concrete realization of this. We look forward to even more innovative developments in the future.
Space Exploration
In September 1992, NASA launched the Endeavor space shuttle. Among the crew was Japan's first astronaut, Dr. Mamoru Mori, who carried out many onboard experiments.
Nihon Kohden was honored to be chosen to supply equipment to monitor Dr. Mori's physical condition during the flight. Collecting information without restricting his movement was one major goal. The monitoring equipment consisted of ECG electrodes, respiration signal conditioners and infrared digital telemetry transmitter. Equipment had to meet very strict NASA requirements without using radio wave telemetry. We are proud to report that all experiments monitoring Dr. Mori's condition were completed without problem.
Nihon Kohden engineers supervised the special equipment from the control room of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and monitored the down-linked physiological data during the flight.
Nihon Kohden products are also used extensively by NASDA, Japan's space exploration agency.
