Inhaled nitric oxide delivery and monitoring

Inhaled nitric oxide (NO) was found to cause selective pulmonary vasodilati on in the late 1980's and since then there has been a huge interest in stud ying its clinical benefits. The equipment used to deliver and monitor inhal ed NO has gone through a dramatic evolution from simple flow meters and ind ustrial monitors to to-days purpose built, fully integrated, NO delivery an d monitoring systems that were designed specifically for the demanding area of the intensive care unit. This paper explores the evolution of inhaled N O delivery systems and identifies the design challenges, the safety and reg ulatory requirements and the ease of use issues that had to be solved to br ing this new exciting new class of medical device in to clinical use.