Doctor’s invention to make surgery safer

Press, 5 January 1980, Page 12

Doctor’s invention to make surgery safer

A Sydney specialist in anaesthetics, Dr Dick Stephens, has been named Australia’s Inventor of the Year for developing a device which gives surgeons early warning of patients

going Into shock on the operating table. Called a tissue perfusion monitor, it gathers information on the circulation of the blood by means of a transducer placed on the skin.' This monitors activity in tiny blood vessels or mucous membrane and translates the information into electrical impulses which are registered on the machine. The monitor gives warning of a patient going into shock before the skin colour changes or' other signs of shock can be seen. Dr Stephens, who is director of the Clinical Research and Development Unit at Sydney’s Mater :: A plastic container to Misericordiae Hospital, began work on the monitor more than 10 years ago after he had seen a boy die on the operating table. “The boy gave n,o obvious signs of going into shock — in fact, his skin colour was normal — and we had no warning until

there was a dramatic change in body temner-’-ture,” Dr Stephens said. “If we could have been aiert’.u' by information ,on circulation in 'the child’s small blood vessels. we might have been able to save him.” Dr Stephens’ monitor was chosen from among six finalists in the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s television series “The Inventors” on November 15. As well as gaining the Inventors’ Trophy and $A3500, he won a trip to Geneva at the end of November to attend the annual International Exhibitions of Inventors. His invention is already being used in some Australian hospitals. Other inventions to reach the finals were: simplify hygienic disposal of scalpel blades during surgery :: A multi-purpose circular saw stand :: A machine which bends pipe bars or rods by means of a hydraulic ram

:: Cone-shaped, stackable clothes, pegs which have a hole in the centre so that water can drain out :: A plier-like tool to speed up and simplify the ear-tagging of animals. All six finalists’ inventions are to .be manufactured. Beverley Gledhill, producer of “The Inventors,” said potential manufacturers watched the show

because they knew only the most promising inventions were featured. “In the 10 years the show has been running we have featured nearly 700 inventions, but more than 2000,others were rejected because they failed to meet our criteria,” she said. "The inventions are

judged on originality, . practicability of manufacture and marketing, whether they offer a solu- . tion to a problem worth solving, whether they are «, the best of their type, and whether they would improve our living standard.” —: Australian Information Service.

By

JOHN HANAFIN,

Australian Information Service