Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products and recognized innovator in patient monitoring and respiratory care devices, today launched the Capnostream ® 20p bedside monitor. The new capnography solution, with Covidien’s Microstream ® technology, offers enhanced features that will help clinicians identify and address serious health threats sooner. For nearly two decades, clinicians have relied on Microstream capnography monitoring for an integrated, complete picture of oxygenation and ventilation. These factors can help clinicians appropriately manage sedation levels and ensure safe administration of opioids for pain management. The Capnostream 20p bedside monitor features the Apnea-Sat Alert™ algorithm, which measures and reports recurring apnea (temporary cessation of breathing for more than 10 seconds) and oxygen desaturation events. Frequent apneic events can provide clinicians early warning of cardiopulmonary complications. Coupling the new Apnea-Sat Alert feature with trusted capnography technology from Covidien may facilitate early detection and treatment of cardiac arrest and others serious conditions. “Studies show that as many as 88% of hospitalized patients may be at risk for recurrent apneas, yet we’re only identifying and treating a very small number,*” said Scott Kelley, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Respiratory and Monitoring Solutions, Covidien. “The Capnostream 20p bedside monitor will help increase apnea detection rates and represents an important advancement in continuous patient monitoring that we believe will help save lives.” The Apnea-Sat Alert feature detects apneas per hour and oxygen desaturation fluctuations, displaying the values on the Capnostream 20p monitor screen without requiring additional equipment or clinical workflow changes. Apnea-Sat Alert technology is a part of the broader family of Smart Alarm Management™ integrated algorithms that help mitigate alarm fatigue while meeting Joint Commission guidelines for alarm management. These include: 
- Smart Breath Detection™, a proprietary filter and pattern recognition algorithm that screens out low-amplitude “non-breath” etCO 2 excursions like snoring, talking or crying, to provide a more accurate respiratory rate.
- Smart Alarm for Respiratory Analysis (SARA™), alarm management technology that helps prevent alarm fatigue by reducing clinically insignificant respiratory alarms.
- Nellcor™ SatSeconds, technology that helps analyze oxygen desaturation events.
- Integrated Pulmonary Index TM (IPI) an algorithm that combines four respiratory measurements–capnography, respiratory rate, pulse rate and pulse oximetry–to provide clinicians with an integrated snapshot of respiratory status.
- Kumar S, McElligott D, Goyal A, Baugh M, Ionita RN. Risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in hospitalized patients. Chest. 2010;138(4):779A.
- Frey WC, Pilcher J: Obstructive sleep-related breathing disorders in patients evaluated for bariatric surgery. Obes Surg. 2003; 13:676-683.
- Young T, Palta M, Dempsey J, Skatrud J, Weber S, Badr S. The occurrence of sleep-disordered breathing among middle-aged adults. N Engl J Med. 1993;29;328(17):1230-1235.