Enteral feeding tube recognised with North American innovation award

Based on its recent analysis of the North American enteral feeding tube navigation market, Frost & Sullivan has recognised ENvizion Medical with the 2021 North American Technology Innovation Leadership Award. 

Addressing the limitations of blind insertions and radiography-based adjuvant method, Israel-based ENvizion Medical has developed a feeding tube navigation system for accurate enteral tube placement in adult patients.

The FDA 510(k)-cleared ENvue system consists of an electro-mechanical device with embedded software and enteral feeding tubes. Leveraging the power of electromagnetic technology, the device creates a personalised body map of patients, allowing the medical staff to precisely place the tube in the stomach or small intestine through the oral or nasoenteric route.

Neeraj Nitin Jadhav, senior research analyst, said: “Unlike competing products, the ENvue system creatively displays a frontal, lateral, and axial view of the patients’ actual body contours simultaneously, while also highlighting the enteral feeding tube’s direction in real time. Such real-time and multi-faceted visualisation and directional guidance provides increased confidence to healthcare support staff while inserting the feeding tube, eliminating the risk of placement in the patients’ lungs, and; thus, associated complications.”

The ENvue system’s electromagnetic tracking technology reduces the tube placement procedure time by half compared to commercially available products. Frost & Sullivan notes that shortening the time required to initiate feeding is extremely important for critically ill and malnourished intensive care unit (ICU) patients. It eliminates the need for repeated X-ray confirmations, resulting in minimised radiation exposure and associated health complications which subsequently reduce the healthcare costs.

Jadhav added: “Enteral feeding plays an important role in providing critical nutrition to hospitalised patients who cannot tolerate the standard method of food intake. The pioneering ENvue system provides uniquely safe and rapid feeding tube positioning, contributing to improved outcomes for critically ill patients.”