designing a remote closed-loop automatic oxygen control in preterm infants

Background: different automated systems have been developed to improve the maintenance of target range of arterial oxygen saturation (spo 2 ) in premature infants with respiratory distress. objectives: this study aimed to develop a remote closedloop automatic oxygen control (rclac) as an efficient monitoring device. then the means of the fraction of inspired oxygen (fio 2 ) and spo 2 by routine manual control (rmc) and rclac were compared. methods: a developmentaldescriptive study was carried out in an iranian hospital (tehran, iran; 2015 2017). twentytwo preterm infants with gestational age 24 28 weeks entered the study. a database was prepared based on pulse oximeter parameters. a wifi module was implemented to receive data from a pulse oximeter and send inputs to the user’s mobile. vibrate alarm was implemented for high or low fio 2 . after receiving notifications associated with an increase or decrease of fio 2 levels and user’s confirmation; the alterations were applied on the ventilator. results: the mean fio 2 in the rmc system was significantly higher than the rclac system (98.1 ± 2.67 vs 79.5 ± 16.03; p = 0.0001). according to the results, when the spo 2 reached close to target spo 2 range and consequently fio 2 changed (decreased or increased based on target spo 2 ), heart rate showed a regular beating with a decrease in the numbers. conclusions: remote closedloop automatic oxygen control system as a simple device could prevent preterm neonates from sustained hypohyperoxemic and arrhythmia episodes. moreover, by using rclac, there was no need for continuous monitoring that may reduce the workload of nicu medical staff. collecting reliable data and recording information in digital forms were also other benefits. further studies with larger sample size are strongly suggested.