AcQumen Medical: Transforming Pediatric Care Through Innovation
AcQumen Medical values the clinician and patient voice in guiding our development efforts. Having a medical doctor on the team provides incredible perspective and expertise. Richard Summers, MD joined the team as Chief Scientific Officer and has been instrumental in the innovation of UltraTrac while keeping the focus on patient care. Here are a few words he shared about his journey.
Q1: What motivated you to join the AcQumen Medical team?
"I have been interested in impedance cardiography for almost 30 years and wanted to help make it a successful technology. I was also involved in the development of UltraTrac's predecessor impedance technology."
Q2: Can you share a little history of impedance cardiography?
"Impedance cardiography (ICG) has held great promise since the 1970s as the potential truly noninvasive solution for determining cardiac output. An interest in the technology was spurred by evidences that our commonly used invasive measures of cardiac output (i.e. thermodilution) were potentially dangerous, often inaccurate, and did not provide for continuous measurements. As a technology ICG has evolved in lockstep with our information analytic and computing capacity. In this journey, there have been many victories and some notable failures along the way that has limited its widespread clinical adoption with some skepticism by certain medical specialists. However, the fundamental idea around ICG is so compelling that it has maintained continuous interest and gained a real foothold as a technology in some areas of Europe and the Middle East where invasive measures of cardiac output are costly and not commonly used."
Q3: What sets UltraTrac apart from existing monitoring technologies?
"Noninvasive ultrasound modalities have found an advancing role in the practice of modern medicine. The notion of combining the information of ultrasound with the functionality of ICG is truly an exciting new development that could give new life to this maturing technology. Â UltraTrac is uniquely positioned to provide this technological innovation."
Q4: How have healthcare professionals responded to the idea of ultrasound-guided impedance?
"My anecdotal discussions with clinicians have revealed a genuine excitement for the potential to address an unmet need in hemodynamic monitoring, particularly in pediatric care."
Q5: Is there a moment from your early clinical experience that drives you today?
"In emergency medicine you must make critical split second decisions with limited information. Knowing the cardiac output is often central to this decision making and the emergency department is not an ideal environment for invasive and time-consuming procedures. And even if you were to determine the cardiac output at some point in time, there is still a need for continuous monitoring to guide resuscitation efforts."
Q6: What do you find most exciting for the future of AcQumen Medical?
"The talent and expertise in the UltraTrac team is uniquely suited to finally deliver on the promise of impedance cardiography."
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