PinMed issued two patents

The U.S. Patent Office recently issued PinMed, a Pittsburgh-based medical-device company, with two patents.

The first patent is for two magnetic resonance (MR)-compatible solutions that are currently available only for research. One solution allows high-fidelity, wireless monitoring of 12-lead electrocardiogram, blood pressure, and pulse oximetry. The second solution provides external cardiac defibrillation and pacing. They offer unrestricted use throughout hospitals.

The devices were developed for the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.

The second patent is for a prototype cuff-free method to track central blood pressure noninvasively and without sacrificing patient safety or comfort. It is available for research use only.

“The ability to ensure patient safety anytime, anywhere, including the challenging MRI environment, is vitally important,” Dr. Vladimir Shusterman, PinMed president and chief scientist, said. “The development of these innovative solutions, which address essential clinical needs, required years of work and significant investments. We are grateful to the NIH and Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse for their support, which enabled us to bring these solutions to their current advanced stage, and to our research collaborators at the University of Iowa, who performed the first tests in the clinical environment. We are looking forward to making our systems available to clinicians in the near future.”