NFANT Labs Begins Building the World’s Largest Infant Feeding Database
ATLANTA (PRWEB) November 17, 2015 -- In coordination with World Prematurity Day, NFANT Labs LLC today announced that it is developing the world’s largest infant feeding database by using its FDA-cleared nfant® Feeding Solution to collect objective data on infant feeding in NICUs across the country. In return, NFANT Labs will provide neonatologists and pediatricians with objective data they’ve never had before. Ultimately, these insights will empower physicians to make stronger evidence-based decisions, resulting in better clinical outcomes and healthier babies.
As the first Internet of Things (IoT) medical device for the NICU, nfant Feeding Solution non-invasively measures a baby’s tongue movement during sucking and transmits that data via low energy Bluetooth to a tablet for real time display. Additional clinical parameters about the infant such as gestational age, volume consumed and clinical observations are also logged in the nfant Feeding Solution mobile app. Data is then stored in NFANT Labs’ cloud database for analysis and retrieval. Most importantly, the data can be collected during routine clinical use and immediately aggregated and displayed for clinical interpretation. This helps drive bedside decisions while simultaneously creating a normative database to better inform physicians for future use cases.
Currently, the database is being populated through collections at several initial clinical use sites with about a dozen more sites being added over next several months. Combined, the data collected at these sites will establish normal feeding metrics and create benchmarks of performance to safely and efficiently advance feeding progression of preterm infants in the NICU. Trouble with feeding progression can lead to delays in hospital stay anywhere from days to weeks. Additional trials are also in the works to gather data on NICU populations where feeding issues are prevalent, including infants of diabetic mothers, neonatal abstinence syndrome and respiratory distress syndrome.
“Through the objective data collected from nfant Feeding Solution, NFANT Labs aims to provide clinicians with a baseline for ‘Go and No-Go’ decision making for bedside feedings,” said Gilson Capilouto, professor in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Kentucky and co-founder of NFANT Labs. “For example, if a preterm infant appears to be struggling during feeding, clinicians no longer have to make a care decision based only on subjective observations and individual experience. Instead, they can incorporate the infant’s real-time data stream and historical feeding analytics in comparison to our normative database to make better decisions.”
Plans to expand nfant Feeding Solution outside the NICU to other populations are also underway. For example, nfant Feeding Solution is being utilized in clinical studies to understand the relationship between early sucking parameters and neurological development, including early diagnosis and treatment of Autism, and prevention of early onset diabetes. Other studies include infants with congenital heart disease and tongue-tie.
“We’re able to create the world’s largest feeding database and drive many clinical trials by leveraging our first-of-its-kind technology, which can collect abundant amounts of data and create an influential database in just a matter of months - rather than years,” said Tommy Cunningham, co-founder and chief operating officer of NFANT Labs. “Our approach, combining smart technology during routine clinical care and building a robust database is paradigm shifting for the NICU. With every feeding our algorithms get stronger and stronger, just like the patients we are helping.”
After obtaining FDA clearance in September, NFANT Lab’s nfant Feeding Solution is now available to NICUs across the country, and is currently expanding its clinical use sites. For more information, visit http://www.nfant.com.
About NFANT Labs LLC:
NFANT Labs is an emerging medical device company empowering the future of neonatal and pediatric medicine by producing smart products developed to deliver objective and measurable data on the most common and crucial problems faced by NICU infants. Its first product, nfant® Feeding Solution, is the first FDA-cleared IoT medical device focused on the NICU and concentrates on one of the utmost vital aspects of an infant’s growth and development and one of the top reasons for delays in discharge –feeding. Through its products, the company is changing the way the world’s most vulnerable infants are being cared for and nurtured, ultimately ensuring better outcomes and overall quality of life from the hospital and beyond. To learn more, visit nfant.com and follow @nfantlabs on Twitter.
Colleen Pinto, AR|PR, http://www.arpr.co, +1 855-300-8209, [email protected]
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