top of page
AVIAN
OXIMETRY
UNIT.
GROUP 28
Aline Favilla
Steven Guenthner
Tripti Soni
CLIENT
Jane Merkel
& the STL Zoo
WHAT IS A PULSE OXIMETRY UNIT?
A pulse oximetry unit is a device that measures heart rate and blood oxygenation. Pulse oximeters are useful for birds as their high heart rate and low ventilation make them at risk during surgery. Accurate measurement of these factors would provide veterinary surgeons the highest degree of comfort while dealing with these patients. Current pulse oximetry
units, such as those using spectrometry, gas exchange, and/or implantation, cannot meet this need due to their
innacuracies with high heart rates, bird pigmentation, and use of oxygen dissociation curves calibrated by other species.
PROJECT SCOPE
-
Create an avian pulse oximetry unit to provide continuous monitoring on avian patients under anesthesia as currently no pulse oximetry units created specifically for avians exist
-
Design a safe and accurate device that noninvasively measures heart rate and blood oxygenation
-
Allow for the high heart rate of birds as well as pigmentation
-
Customize to avians’ blood oxygenation levels, as current devices calculate oxygenation based on oxygenation curves for other species, such as canine or human
-
Aim for the device to be ideally used accurately on any sized avian; however, due to the large variety of avian sizes, target our device to the intermediate-sized Domestic Fowl
GROUP MEMBERS
bottom of page