Micropore SpiraLith

Dusting is a problem inherent with ALL granular absorbents, well-known to cause many complications, having a direct and negative impact on patient safety, anesthesia costs, machine health, and the time and efforts of hospital staff, particularly anesthesia providers, technicians, and biomedical engineers.

SpiraLith’s unique, solid absorbent technology eliminates all dust related complications and ensures:

• Patients are no longer at risk of inhaling caustic dust during surgery.
• Diminished biomedical service calls and rescheduled surgeries due to machine pre-test failures.
• Reductions in disposable part replacement costs, such as sensors and o-rings.
• Easier, less time-consuming machine servicing.
• Superior shock and vibration resistance prevents dust creation during shipping and handling.

Channeling occurs in granular absorbents when gas takes the path of least resistance. This problem causes prematurely exhausted product, significant waste, and inferior duration.

Spiralith’s solid absorbent technology uses engineered, uniform flow pathways to eliminate channeling:

• SpiraLith Ca absorbs CO2 more efficiently resulting in superior duration compared to all other CO2 absorbent.
• Reduced environmental impact with fewer canisters and less unreacted absorbent in the waste stream.
• Molded flow channels reduce duration variability, providing consistent, reliable performance.
• Color change can be relied on to determine product exhaustion and remaining life.

Traditional granular absorbents are known to degrade volatile anesthetics and produce toxic byproducts, including Compound A, Carbon Monoxide, and Formaldehyde, thus preventing clinicians from utilizing low flow anesthesia. Several absorbents have eliminated these concerns by removing KOH and reducing NaOH concentration to <2%.¹ However, these changes severely impact product duration and frequency of disposal.

SpiraLith Ca utilizes <1% NaOH and eliminates concern for toxic byproducts. When this chemistry is packaged with Solid Absorbent(r) technology there is no duration penalty. In fact, SpiraLith Ca duration is superior to all granular absorbents.

SpiraLith Ca allows clinicians to safely and cost-effectively utilize low-flow anesthesia and its benefits:¹

• Humidification of inspired gasses, resulting in better infection fighting capabilities, higher core body temperatures, less lung damage, and fewer post-operative complications.
• Dramatic reduction of volatile anesthetics and their associated costs.
• Further reduction of volatile anesthetics entering landfills and the environment (disposed cannisters contain residual agent)

1. Feldman JM, Hendrickx J, Kennedy R. Carbon Dioxide Absorption During Inhalation Anesthesia: A Modern Practice. Anesthesia & Analgesia. April 2021, Vol. 132, Issue 4, p 993.

• SpiraLith Ca is manufactured in the United States, eliminating supply-chain complexity and reducing risk.
• Sales and clinical support readily available by phone, text, or email.Unlike granular absorbents, SpiraLith Ca quality does not deteriorate during shipping and handling.
• SpiraLith Ca requires changing less frequently than any other CO2 absorbent.
• SpiraLith Ca has the only color indicator system which predicts remaining absorbent life.
• SpiraLith Ca eliminates dust related biomed calls and rescheduled surgeries from machine pre-test failure.
• Anesthesia workstations utilizing SpiraLith Ca require less service time and fewer replacement parts.
• SpiraLith Ca is safe for low-flow anesthesia.

Differences in CO2 absorbent formulations can translate into significant performance differences, and the choice of absorbent should not be based on unit price alone.¹

Although priced higher than competing absorbents, SpiraLith Ca’s superior performance provides the opportunity to achieve significant reductions in overall cost of anesthesia delivery:

• Highest CO2 absorption capacity, efficiency, and longevity.²
• Most consistent performance (least variation).²
• Elimination of dust related service calls and rescheduled surgeries.
• Safely reduce anesthesia costs utilizing low-flow anesthesia.
  

1. Feldman JM, Hendrickx J, Kennedy R. Carbon Dioxide Absorption During Inhalation Anesthesia: A Modern Practice. Anesthesia & Analgesia. April 2021, Vol. 132, Issue 4, p 993.

2. Jiang Y, Bashraheel MK, Liu H, et al. In vitro efficiency of 16 different Ca(OH)2 based CO2 absorbent brands. J Clin Monit Comput. 2019;33:1081–1087.

Everyone is aware of the global efforts to reduce the amount of plastic and chemicals entering our environment. Inhaled anesthetics are known to deplete the ozone layer and the health care sector accounts for 8% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions with operating rooms generating 20-30% of total hospital waste¹.

SpiraLith Ca provides an opportunity to significantly reduce environmental footprint:

• SpiraLith Ca’s superior duration and decreased frequency of cannister changes mean users contribute significantly less plastic and chemicals to our landfills.
• SpiraLith Ca’s is safe for low-flow anesthesia, meaning users can significantly reduce inhaled anesthetics entering our atmosphere.

1 Axelrod, et al. Task force on Environmental Sustainability Committee on Equipment and Facilities. Greening the Operating Room and Perioperative Arena: Environmental Sustainability for Anesthesia Practice, Revised October 2014.