insights

by Karin Kloosterman

LunGuard’s first product is a peristaltic feeding tube that is capable of preventing reflux and is expected to significantly lower the occurrence of VAP (Ventilator Associated Pneumonia) in ventilated patients. To prevent reflux and infection, the feed rate is set at moderate, which is often slower than what a patient actually needs. And generally, no one monitors what’s happening during the four or five hours following feeding, Ofer Pintel,  LunGuard’s co-founder and CEO explains. “Our solution can give information about peristaltic motion and the sphincter at the entrance of the stomach. We know that secretions crawl up to the respiration tract. Our solution prevents reflux continuously, and it’s safe. We are not just blocking the esophagus, but use a unique motion and balloons and a special feeding technology.” http://www.israel21c.org/201008298227/health/preventing-pneumonia-and-saving-billions

by Dana Blankenhorn

GE Healthcare signed a strategic partnership to bring cardiovascular Computed Tomography (CT) technology from start-up Arineta Ltd. of Israel to the hospital market. (Heart image from GE Healthcare.) CT has been around for four decades but is only now capable of imaging the heart quickly enough to provide freeze-frame images of the muscle in action. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/healthcare/ge-to-get-its-heart-tech-from-israel/3950