Masimo Unveils New Pulse Oximeter Rad-8

Masimo is releasing a new pulse oximeter Rad-8, a device touted to be especially useful at clinics that diagnose sleep disorders. Of course, it would seem there’s no reason that the device can’t be used for other relevant application, such as postoperative or intraoperative monitoring, ICU stays, or even regular floor stays. Rad-8 is essentially a slimmed down version of Masimo’s popular line of pulse oximeters.
From the press release:

The new Rad-8 combines the unmatched sensitivity and specificity of Masimo SET® Measure-Through Motion and Low-Perfusion pulse oximetry—clinically-proven to reduce false alarms by over 90% and increase capture of true desaturation events by 98%—with enhanced functionality to help clinicians better capture, analyze, and report vital oxygen saturation, pulse rate, and perfusion data for improved sleep disorder detection.
The superior fidelity of Masimo SET has been clinically-shown to outperform other pulse oximeters in the accurate identification and quantification of brief dips in oxygen saturation due to apneas and hypopneas—an important marker and measure of severity for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) diagnosis and treatment. In fact, previous research conducted at Montreal Children’s Hospital in Quebec found that using a Masimo pulse oximeter with very short averaging time was not only more accurate in detecting true desaturation events, including brief dips in oxygen saturation as well as larger ones, but could also "significantly reduce workload and improve reliability of desaturation detection" over other pulse oximeters. Study findings confirmed that Masimo detected 98.6% of true desaturations, while the N-395 detected only 45.3%, leading researchers to conclude that "the sensitivity and motion artifact rejection characteristics of the Nellcor N-395 oximeter are not adequate for a pediatric sleep laboratory setting."2
And, based on clinician input, Rad-8 now features an intuitive user-interface and easy menu navigation to save time and enable faster, easier set-up, and operation, while one-touch quick access buttons allow clinicians to engage special features in an instant. New user-selectable alarm settings make it quick and easy for clinicians to set and save configurations for specific patient monitoring needs and unique clinical applications. In addition, 72-hour trending, configurable Sleep and Home modes, and enhanced data collection/reporting compatibility make the new Rad-8 the ideal patient monitoring solution for sleep center, home, sub-acute, and transport applications.

Press release: Masimo Debuts New Rad-8® Pulse Oximeter to Largest Gathering of Sleep Specialists from Around the World at SLEEP 2009
Product page: Rad-8…
Rad-8 data sheet (.pdf)…