The history of oximetry development introduction --- its benefit to the world of technology

When one thinks of a pulse oximeter, the image of a medical device that is held on the fingertips like a clothespin comes to mind. The ease with which measurements can be taken by simply clamping it to the fingertip, and the excellent conditions under which the fingertip measurement is used for stable measurements, are features that have undoubtedly contributed greatly to the popularization of pulsatile oximetry.

After the epidemic, with the global demand for medical supplies, medical devices such as finger-clip oximetry products were also popularized, and it was Minolta Camera Corporation (now Konica Minolta) that first commercialized this type of pulsed oximetry using fingertip measurements around the world.

NIPPON PHOTOELECTRIC CO., LTD. produced the first model of pulse oximeter in 1975, which was called the "Ear Oximeter OLV-5100". "The OLV-5100 is an in-the-ear blood saturation meter that measures blood in the ear, and about 10 units have been put on trial at medical sites.

On the other hand, Minolta Camera successfully commercialized the world's first pulsatile oximeter (oximeter OXIMET MET-1471) in 1977 as a fingertip measurement type. Since the commercialization of the oximeter OXIMET, Minolta Camera Corporation has continued to develop, manufacture, and sell pulsed oximeters to this day.

Although the technology and products for pulsed oximetry were developed in Japan, it was in the U.S. that clinical applications began. Minolta camera company brought the pulsatile oximeter to the United States, and the United States Biocs company and Nellcor company to improve its technology, which pulsatile oximeter as a monitoring device in anesthesia is widely used. the mid-1980s, Biocs company and Nellcor company's products returned to the Japanese market, and opened with the Japanese photoelectric and Minolta camera company fierce competition. The prelude to the competition with the Japanese photoelectric and Minolta camera companies, the Japanese pulsatile oximetry market has really begun to expand.