Technology

Since 1988, the owners of Micronix intellectual property have been developing the Cathlocator platform by drawing on technology that has been used for missile tracking and locating of underwater shipwrecks.

The Cathlocator technology utilises the principle of inductive sensing. An electromagnetic field (EMF) transmitted from the catheter tip is measured by a receiver unit placed on the patient in relation to a set of surface anatomical landmarks. The EMF signal is rendered as a graphic display that can be printed out for storage with the patient's record.

The example shown portrays the tracing of a central venous catheter (CVC) placement with respect to the receiver unit. This receiver unit is placed upon the patient's chest and is positioned with respect to the sternal notch. The schematic representation of a patient's ribcage is shown in this image to indicate the correct positioning of the receiver unit on the patient.

A key point of difference with the Micronix technology is that the "transmitter" is placed in the catheter tip and the "receiver" is outside of the body. The major advantage of the Micronix approach is that the potential for interference with surrounding devices is almost immeasurably low. There is also very low susceptibility to magnetic fields produced by other devices.

Competing technologies in this market have taken the opposite approach, with the "transmitter" outside of the body and the "receiver" in the catheter tip. As a consequence of the higher energy required by those systems, products using those technologies are susceptible to interference to environmental conditions such as electronic equipment that is used in hospitals, as well as being potential sources of interference to other devices.

Future Applications

The portable, battery-powered Cathlocator system is suitable for emergency use by mobile medical teams, and can be used in a wide range of other medical applications:

Naso-gastric feeding tubes for delivery of feeding products to a patient's stomach when food cannot be taken by mouth
Gastric decompression tubes used to remove fluid or air (certain procedures require inflation of the stomach with air and subsequent decompression)
Thoracic cavity drainage tubes used for removal of fluids from the thoracic cavity, which is achieved by placing draining tubes beneath the lungs
Endotracheal tubes the Technology will enable correct placement of endotracheal tubes, to improve patient safety and the rapid deployment of breathing apparatus
Peritoneal dialysis catheters used for patients undergoing treatment for kidney disease, where placement of a peritoneal dialysis catheter is required to deliver of clean dialysis fluid and to remove waste fluids
Schwann Ganz catheters used by patients undergoing open-heart surgery and placement of a Schwann-Ganz catheter to the heart