Konica Minolta, Medovate and Mercury Medical Collaborate on Ultrasound-guided Regional Anesthesia Education at ASRA 2021

Wayne, NJ, May 10, 2021 – Building on their existing partnership to promote safer ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia, Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas, Inc. and Medovate, will showcase their combined solution and sponsor educational and training sessions at the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) 46th Annual Meeting. Mercury Medical, the primary US distributor of Medovate’s SAFIRATM (SAFer Injection for Regional Anesthesia) will join the two companies in highlighting the importance of using ultrasound-guidance with SAFIRA to improve patient safety and clinical efficiency during regional anesthesia procedures. The meeting will be held May 13-15 in Orlando, Florida.

The combined solution from Konica Minolta and Medovate unites two innovative systems that help promote accuracy and safety while streamlining regional anesthesia procedures. The SONIMAGE® HS2 Compact Ultrasound System features Simple Needle Visualization (SNV®), an advanced algorithm that improves needle visibility and increases accuracy in needle placement, both for in-plane and out-of-plane approaches. SNV also adjusts the sensitivity of needle visualization depending on the type of tissue. At ASRA, attendees can get hands-on experience with the HS2 and SNV in Konica Minolta’s booth #209 and with SAFIRA in Medovate’s booth #211.

SAFIRA is a novel FDA-cleared device designed to limit injection pressure and automatically stop injections above 20psi to help reduce the risk of nerve injury. In addition to helping limit injectate pressure, SAFIRA also transforms regional anesthesia into a one-physician procedure by allowing a single anesthesiologist to conduct the entire procedure. Previously, an assistant was required to inject the anesthetic solution at the required pressure while the anesthesiologist inserted the needle tip using ultrasound guidance.

Mercury Medical®, Inc. is dedicated to delivering clinically differentiated critical care technology that saves lives throughout the world. For over 55 years clinicians have relied on Mercury Medical as their resource for quickly responding to clinical needs with solutions that improve patient outcomes effectively. The company provides a legacy of innovative products to critical care areas of neonatal, anesthesia, respiratory and EMS markets in more than 58 countries.

At ASRA’s 2021 meeting, Medovate is supporting an abstract presentation and poster, "Evaluation of a New Regional Anaesthesia Pump Designed to Help Prevent Nerve Injury," discussing the results of a clinical evaluation involving 34 patients. Additionally, Konica Minolta is sponsoring a webinar with Douglas Jaffe, DO, an anesthesiologist with Wake Forest Baptist Health on regional anesthesia. Dr. Jaffe is an expert in ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia procedures and has published and lectured extensively on the topic.

“At Konica Minolta, we are committed to providing educational and training resources to anesthesiologists who want to adopt best practices and utilize advanced technologies that promote safety and efficiency in regional anesthesia procedures,” says Eric Sumner, Executive Vice President Ultrasound Sales at Konica Minolta. “Our collaboration with Medovate and Mercury Medical will highlight the clinical value and patient benefits of regional anesthesia, and help more anesthesiologists provide this important service in their practice.”

There are numerous patient benefits resulting from the use of regional anesthesia, including better post-operative analgesia, decreased opioid consumption and length of stay, early rehabilitation, fewer anesthesia-related side effects and high patient satisfaction compared to general anesthesia¹,².

Chris Rogers, Sales & Marketing Director at Medovate comments, “Innovation and improving patient care are at the foundation of the development of SAFIRATM. We are delighted to demonstrate the SAFIRA device at the upcoming ASRA meeting. Enabling clinicians to get 'hands on' with the SAFIRA device will really help them understand and see for themselves the potential benefits of the technology for improving outcomes. We look forward to supporting our distributor Mercury Medical and working with Konica Minolta at the 46th Annual ASRA Meeting to help anesthesiologists understand the benefits of a combined solution for regional anesthesia using SAFIRA and leading ultrasound technology from Konica Minolta to help improve patient safety and realize potential cost optimization benefits."

John Gargaro, MD, President and CEO at Mercury Medical adds, “We believe SAFIRA along with the SONIMAGE HS2 will revolutionize regional anesthesia across the United States. As a company, Mercury Medical has a rich experience in bringing innovative, clinically differentiated medical devices to market. These ingenious devices will improve patient safety and operating room efficiency simultaneously by putting the entire regional block procedure back where it belongs – in the anesthesiologists’ hands. We are excited to work with Medovate and Konica Minolta to provide additional clinical resources to the attendees at the ASRA event and beyond through our clinical resources. The combination of the SONIMAGE HS2 and SAFIRA delivers the innovation in regional anesthesia that will help drive clinical adoption.

¹. Cozowicz C, Poeran J, Zubizarreta N,etal.TrendsintheUseofRegionalAnesthesia: NeuraxialandPeripheralNerveBlocks. RegionalAnesthesia&PainMedicine 2016;41:43-49.

². Albrecht, E. and Chin, K.J. Advances in regional anaesthesia and acute pain management: a narrative review. Anaesthesia, 2020; 75:e101-e110.