Emergency Department Study Demonstrates Utility of MediPines AGM100 in Triaging COVID-19 Patients

YORBA LINDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a study presented at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference 2022, the MediPines AGM100 was shown to provide data that helped identify patients who are at risk of respiratory failure and in need of escalated care due to COVID-19. The measurement of gas exchange impairment (known as Oxygen Deficit) helped physicians accurately determine the need for hospital admission and supplemental oxygen administration in the emergency department (ED).

The ongoing study, titled “Use of the Alveolar Gas Meter for Point-of-Care Triage in COVID-19 Patients” was authored by a team of practicing ER physicians and scientists from the University of California San Diego (UCSD Health) and demonstrated the utility of non-invasive gas exchange analysis (AGM100) on patients who reported to the ED with symptoms of COVID-19. The data indicate that the AGM100 is useful for important hospital admission and supplemental oxygen administration decisions in COVID-19 patients. Additionally, the authors found that the AGM100 is able to identify patients at risk prior to obvious clinical deterioration, in a non-invasive, point-of-care fashion.

Many high-risk patients, especially those infected with COVID, currently go unidentified due to the limitations of existing measurements available to physicians in the ED. Frequently, stand-alone oxygen saturation is utilized to make triage decisions, but the current study reinforced the notion that stand-alone oxygen saturation (≥92%) measurements failed to identify almost half of the patients who later required supplemental oxygen. This can lead to delayed treatment and devastating consequences for patients who are in immediate need of escalated care. By contrast, elevated Oxygen Deficit (>40 mmHg) was shown to be highly sensitive and specific in determining supplemental oxygen needs (ROC curve AUC: 0.97). Additionally, an elevated Oxygen Deficit (>30 mmHg) was effective in predicting the need for hospital admission (ROC curve AUC: 0.78). The MediPines gas exchange technology represents the only non-invasive, real-time method of obtaining Oxygen Deficit measurements, uniquely positioning it to provide significant clinical benefit for patients with (or at risk for) COVID-19 and other cardiopulmonary complications.

“Oxygen Deficit is the most convenient and informative measure of impaired lung function (gas exchange) caused by disease process like COPD or sudden serious respiratory infection of lung parenchyma as in COVID,” stated study co-author and leading global authority on respiratory physiology, John B. West, MD, PhD.

The MediPines AGM100 is an FDA-cleared, advanced pulmonary gas exchange technology that provides Oxygen Deficit, a surrogate for the alveolar to arterial oxygen difference (AaDO2), as well as gPaO₂, PETCO₂, and other sensitive measurements of pulmonary gas exchange. Designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an innovative and commercially available health technology for global priority diseases in its 2021 edition of the WHO Compendium of Innovative Health Technologies, the MediPines AGM100 is a portable system that is being used in emergency departments and throughout the continuum of care in hospitals.

“Clinicians are asking for better methods to triage COVID-19 patients, especially as they recognize that COVID will likely become an endemic problem into the future,” said MediPines CEO, Steve Lee. “This study demonstrates that the AGM100 has utility for physicians on the front lines of medicine to combat the rising chronic respiratory disease burden.”

About MediPines

MediPines is a market leader in non-invasive pulmonary gas exchange technology. The company mission is to advance respiratory medicine by providing physiology-based respiratory devices that enhance clinical effectiveness and achieve better patient outcomes. Learn more at medipines.com.