Xematic
Development of a xenon-capable application device for innovative therapy and anesthesia treatment strategies.
Projektbeschreibung:
During inhalation anesthesia, nitrous oxide (N2O) is often administered in a mixture with other gases (e. g., halothane, isoflurane, desflurane, sevoflurane). This enables the patient to have a pain-free and fear-free operation by means of reduced feeling of pain, muscle relaxation and loss of consciousness. However, N2O has some drawbacks that may show up during or after surgery, such as: hypoxia, delirium, nausea, and vomiting. In addition, the release of these inhalation anesthetics is harmful to the environment as they destroy the ozone layer and cause the greenhouse effect.
Xenon is an optimal alternative to N2O because of its quick action (1.5 times stronger than that of N2O), tolerance for risk patients and it is considered a noble gas, as the most environmentally friendly anesthetic in modern medicine. Xenon is one of the rarest gases on earth, with a concentration of only 0.0087% in the air. This small amount is obtained through air separation systems. The effort to produce xenon is extremely high and therefore cost-intensive (3 times as expensive compared to that of N2O). For this reason, the precise determination of the xenon concentration and its recycling in anesthesia is very important.
As part of the “XeMatic” cooperation project between EKU Elektronik GmbH and the Institute for Microsensors, -actuators and -systems (IMSAS) at the University of Bremen, an economically viable xenon-capable application device will be developed. A coupled, highly sensitive flow and thermal conductivity sensor based on MEMS sensors is to be implemented for the exact determination of the xenon concentration. The reuse of xenon should be facilitated for the inhalation anesthetics by means of a closed loop system together with a combined control mode algorithm.
Projectpartner: EKU Elektronik GmbH: https://www.eku-elektronik.de/
Contact:
Prof.. Dr.-Ing. Walter Lang
The project started in 2020 and is scheduled for 2 years. It is funded by the „Zentrales Inovationsprogramm Mittelstand (ZIM)“ of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). Project number is ZF4176709JR9.