At Kuno Creative, our mission is to help companies we believe in get results. This is the seventh in a series featuring our clients, their mission and how they’re pivoting their marketing strategy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Cornelis “Cor” Drost came to the United States in the ’70s with an electrical engineering degree and a dream to make a difference in scientific research and clinical research. At the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, he was challenged to adapt ultrasound, then in its infancy as a flow velocity measurement approach, to measure absolute volume flow for biomedical applications. Technology was not available at the time to do this reliably, but he developed the mathematical framework and electronic approach to make this measurement with transit-time ultrasound technology for biomedical research. His new transit-time theory and technology solved the problems encountered with previous technologies and allowed researchers to understand true volume flow conditions that drive the physical condition.
Cor wanted to make sure that everyone in the biomedical community was able to access this new measurement technology so he founded his company, Transonic Systems to bring the technology to the world. Today, he continues to grow the company and provide more innovations to the medical world.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, the first thing that Transonic looked at was where and how their flow and pressure technology could be of use to the research and medical community. Here’s a look at how Transonic is working to help the community during COVID-19.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a known complication of COVID-19. Patients who develop ARDS can be treated with a process called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy; this gives the lungs time to heal while the device takes over the lung function. The ECMO system removes CO2 and adds oxygen directly to the patient’s bloodstream via two cannulas that are placed directly in the patient’s blood vessels.
A common complication of ECMO therapy is recirculation, which can reduce the effectiveness of the treatment and lower delivery of life-saving oxygen. There had never been a way to tell the exact amount of recirculation occurring until Transonic’s ELSA Monitor was introduced. The ELSA is able to detect the exact amount of blood flow that is being delivered to the patient as well as how much is being recirculated directly back into the machine without supplying the patient first. The monitor provides clinicians the critical data they need to fine-tune their patient’s ECMO therapy and, thus, improve their care.
ELSA can also quantify clotting in the oxygenator. COVID-19 patients are being found to have very severe inflammatory responses throughout their bodies and this is causing serious clotting issues, which is especially a concern during ECMO. A team at the Maastricht University Medical Center in Maastricht, Netherlands, supported eight COVID-19 patients on ECMO with the ELSA monitor and found it useful in providing information on when to change out the oxygenators to help provide the most optimal oxygenation for these critical patients.
Patients with COVID-19 are increasingly found to have high rates of acute kidney failure and professionals are now bracing for an influx of emergent dialysis patients. A recent report in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology investigated the potential causes for acute kidney failure in COVID-19 and noted that it is complex and involves factors that are not typical to acute kidney failures such as excessive inflammatory response and high clotting rates. Transonic is prepared to help with hemodialysis monitors that track flows in hemodialysis catheters as well as access flows, recirculation and cardiac output in hemodialysis patients with fistulas and grafts.
During a time when many companies have temporarily closed or reduced staff, the Transonic team has been working hard to step up production. Leaders knew that their broad offering of devices would be needed in many areas; from the researchers that would be studying SARS-CoV-2 to the clinicians treating the patients fighting COVID-19 to the other medical device companies that manufacture respiratory assistance devices and ECMO devices which rely on Transonic measurements inside. One of their OEM clients wrote:
“We deeply appreciate the efforts of Transonic’s staff. Although we know that New York State has been in a serious situation due to COVID-19 and most of the companies have been closed, you are working hard. In addition to manufacturing, we know that production cannot be working without back-office, QA, R&D, and sales departments, and thanks to those departments. Because we can receive good products in short delivery time, we can make our products and help our customers save patients.”
When the outbreak began in March, Transonic quickly shifted gears and prepared. As an essential business, Transonic implemented safety precautions to help keep employees safe and things running smoothly. Teams were divided into shifts, working from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 3 p.m. to midnight. Employees who were most vulnerable to the virus and its complications were mandated to work from home. On-site employees were provided with disposable masks, sanitizer and practiced social distancing recommendations.
Now, with some restrictions eased, Transonic has returned to a single shift. But before doing so, leadership had the building’s air handling assessed, worked to add dividers between workstations, put up reminder signage to help employees stay safe and implemented new cafeteria schedules to adhere to social distancing.
Transonic prides itself on producing content that helps clinicians to improve patient care. Before the outbreak, the Kuno and Transonic teams created pieces that helped a variety of medical specialties make better care decisions. And once the outbreak happened, we took that same approach to our COVID-19 marketing.
The Transonic and Kuno teams launched a campaign at the beginning of the outbreak that focused on the use of ECMO in COVID-19 patients. The Kuno team worked with Transonic experts to create a piece that looked at how ECMO is being used globally to treat COVID patients, how the therapy was used in previous respiratory disease outbreaks like H1N1, and what leading authorities say about the use of ECMO during COVID. The teams received positive feedback from the respiratory community about the information.
As Transonic continues to provide content and tools that clinicians use to improve their patient’s lives throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, Kuno is proud to call Transonic their partner.
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