News - Joint Statment On Alleviating Pain
Prospects for Non-Invasive Infant Monitor Enhanced by American and Canadian Pediatric Organizations' Policy Recommendations
Joint Statement Urges that Pediatricians Avoid Causing Pain in Babies
NEW YORK, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Chromatics Color Sciences International, Inc. (Nasdaq: CCSI) wants to help doctors to reduce painful invasive blood tests involved in monitoring bilirubinemia (infant jaundice). Now, the company says that the marketing prospects for its non-invasive, pain-free infant jaundice monitor appear to have been boosted by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Canadian Paediatric Society.
A joint statement published in the February 2000 issue of Pediatrics, titled Prevention and Management of Pain and Stress in the Neonate, urges doctors to take measures to alleviate pain in healthcare for babies and prevent causing pain whenever possible.
The statement recommends, "Health care institutions should develop and implement patient care policies to assess, prevent, and manage pain in neonates, including those receiving palliative care." In addition, "Painful or stressful procedures should be minimized and, when appropriate, coordinated with other aspects of the neonate's care. Furthermore, consideration of the least painful method is important." Also, "Whenever possible validated noninvasive monitoring techniques ... that are not tissue damaging should replace invasive methods."
CCSI President and CEO Darby Macfarlane said, "We have been very pleased with the initial reception that the Colormate(R) TLc*BiliTest(R) System has received from hospitals and pediatricians since we introduced it and began marketing it last year through our distribution partner, Datex-Ohmeda Inc. and its Ohmeda Medical Division. We already are seeing hospitals converting to the TLc*BiliTest(R) non-invasive monitoring system and now, with these recommendations by North America's leading pediatric organizations, we are
optimistic that there will be an even greater sense of urgency within the medical community to greatly reduce the use of painful needle-sticks by using pain-free monitoring of infant jaundice."
The Colormate(R) TLc*BiliTest(R) System (TLc for tender, loving care) is the only device with FDA clearance for commercial use being marketed in the U.S. for pain-free, non-invasive monitoring of bilirubinemia for babies of all races and all gestational ages -- even when undergoing phototherapy treatment. A study of the device published in Pediatrics in 1998 found that the Colormate(R) TLc*BiliTest(R) System results correlate within a clinically useful range to results obtained from traditional invasive techniques that involve taking blood from infants -- often repeatedly. |
