5. Worldwide Expansion - 1980s

This was a decade of worldwide expansion for Nihon Kohden, beginning with the establishment of Nihon Kohden America in 1979, followed by a European Representative Office in Amsterdam in 1981, Nihon Kohden Deutschland in Bad Homburg, Germany in 1983 and Nihon Kohden Europe in London in 1989.
In 1982, Nihon Kohden was listed on the 1st Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
 

In 1989, Yoshio Ogino became chairman, and executive officer Kazuo Ogino became president.

“World's Firsts" and other notable products by Nihon Kohden

1980 Telephone Access ECG Analysis System

DCC-3100 Automatic ECG Analysis System

A central computer provides around the clock ECG analysis to member hospitals, clinics, and physicians through the public telephone network. At its peak, 32 centers throughout Japan and 2,000 satellite ECG labs and offices were interpreting 1.5 million ECGs per year. This enormous database was used to develop the first generation Cardiofax interpretive ECG machines.

1980 World's first automatic EEG

Neurofax EEG-6500 Electroencephalographs

This was the world's first automatic EEG.

1980 Radiolucent disposable electrodes

X-Transrode Electrodes

These were Japan's first radiolucent disposable electrodes.

1981 World's first ECG with built-in thermal dot recorder

DEC-3703 Electrocardiograph

This was the world's 1st ECG with built-in thermal dot recorder.

1982 World's first arrhythmia analysis

Life Scope 10 OEC-5501 Heart Monitor

Arrhythmia detection was first developed by Nihon Kohden. This became a standard feature in all later monitors.

1984 World's first telemetry fetal monitor

Partocorder OMF-7201 Fetal Monitor

This was the world's first fetal monitor to use telemetry. Telemetry monitoring has always been a Nihon Kohden specialty. It was also used on our Life Scope 11 bedside and central monitors to eliminate cable congestion around the bed.

1985 World's first 3-channel holter recorder

DMC-3152/3153 Long Term ECG Recorder

This was the world's first 3-channel simultaneous holter ECG recorder.

1985 World's first combined respiration monitor

OMR-7101 Respiration Monitor

This was the world's first combined respiration monitor.

1987 World's first ECG with large LCD display

Cardiofax V ECG-8300 series Electrocardiographs

This multi-channel interpretive ECG was the world's first ECG with a large LCD screen so that the operator can check the waveform before recording, as well as easily view a variety of information.

1988 SAMME award for best neurodiagnostics instrument

Neurofax EEG-4200/4300 Electroencephalograph

EEG-4200/4300 electroencephalographs earned M.D. Buyline's SAMME award for best neurodiagnostics instrument in 1988.

1988 Automatic analyzer

Celltac MEK-4150 Automatic Hematology Analyzer

This was Japan's 1st automatic hematology analyzer for veterinary use.

1989 World's first EEG with MO disk

EEG-3100 Electroencephalograph

This was the world's first EEG with MO disk data storage. One MO disk could store roughly 50 hours of EEG, about 18,000 sheets of 300×345 mm Z-fold EEG paper. This provided great paper and space saving, as well as efficient searching and archiving of EEG records.