June 21, 2007 -- Masimo reported that new independent studies presented at a symposium during the European Society of Anaesthesia in Munich indicated that Masimo's Plethysmograph Variability Index (PVI), a noninvasive measurement that quantifies changes in the plethysmographic waveform derived from pulse oximetry, can provide clinicians with a noninvasive way to monitor functional hemodynamics in their patients.
Clinicians who have evaluated PVI believe this technology will prove to be a valuable clinical tool with significant advantages over currently available indicators of changes in functional hemodynamics that are invasive, operator dependent, often inaccurate, and expensive. PVI displays a numeric representation of the changes to the pleth waveform on the pulse oximeter and allows clinicians to track and trend these changes over time as well as a Diagnostic Plethysmograph that maintains the morphology of the true pleth for clinicians to view.
In his presentation in Munich, Maxime Cannesson, MD from the Claude Bernard University and Louis Pradel Hospital in Lyon, France cited research he co-authored entitled Ability of a Novel Algorithm for Noninvasive Automatic Estimation of the Respiratory Variations in the Pulse Oximeter Waveform to Detect Changes in Ventricular Preload scheduled for publication in the journal Anesthesiology later this year that indicates Masimo's PVI method of quantifying changes in ventricular preload, and therefore the ability of the heart to pump adequate blood to the tissues, correlated well with invasive methods.
Dr. Cannesson said that it was his belief that "Pleth Variability Index can automatically and noninvasively detect changes in ventricular preload in mechanically ventilated patients in the operating room. PVI shows great promise for use in perioperative fluid optimization which will have both clinical and economical impact. Other clinical applications for PVI are in the areas of fluid depletion/restriction, mechanical ventilator settings/adjustments, detection of changes in myocardial contractility."
Other clinicians have concurred with these observations and feel that the ability of Masimo Rainbow SET oximeters to display PVI may provide them with a useful clinical data point in the management of their patients.
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January 28, 2026 
