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Sphere Medical’s (LON:SPHR) blood monitoring device picked up “significant dosing errors” when it was used to measure the concentrations of a leading anaesthetic in children.
The study took a group of 20 patients undergoing spinal surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, and compared Sphere’s Pelorus 1500 device with traditional methods of measuring propofol levels.
Blood samples were analysed throughout the surgical procedure using the Pelorus analyser and the measured propofol concentrations were compared with a target level.
Detailed analysis of the results showed significant differences between the actual and target blood concentration of propofol.
Average dosing errors of 27% and 46% were recorded using the traditional Marsh model and the Paedfusor, respectively.
The results were presented at the Society of Intravenous Anaesthesia's Annual Scientific Meeting over the weekend.
Sphere chief executive Stuart Hendry said: "The results generated in this study using our Pelorus 1500 analyser highlight that current approaches to propofol dosing can be significantly improved in surgery.
“Rapid propofol measurement using the Pelorus 1500 offers great potential to personalise and optimise the care of each individual patient.
“The work at Great Ormond Street and in Groningen is expected to result in the development of the next generation of propofol infusion protocols and control systems which we believe represent a large commercial opportunity for Sphere Medical."
At 1.30p, the stock was trading 2% higher at 28p.