In a new clinical study published in the high-impact Anesthesiology journal, a team of US-based researchers compared the accuracy and precision of commercially available neuromuscular block monitors. The study confirms the leading accuracy and precision of Senzime?s TetraGraph system, which produced results similar to a gold-standard laboratory reference, while the conventional AMG-based monitors have substantial variability and imprecision that could be clinically significant. Recently published guidelines and recommendations by ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) and ESAIC (European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care) have called for routine use of quantitative neuromuscular monitoring to prevent residual neuromuscular block.

There are currently two types of neuromuscular block monitors on the market that conform to these guidelines: acceleromyography (AMG)- and electromyography (EMG)-based monitors. The study concluded that the AMG-based monitors produced overshoot of measurements and had substantial variability in the data that could be clinically significant. Senzime?s EMG-based TetraGraph-system was shown to measure the responses with minimal overshoot and variability, in line with the gold-standard MMG reference technique.

AMG utilizes an accelerometer to measure the acceleration of muscle contraction in response to nerve stimulation. Important limitations of AMG include its time-consuming calibration procedure, reported variability and overshoot of data, and limitations of use in certain surgeries when free movement of the monitored muscle (thumb) cannot be assured. EMG differs as uses a disposable sensor and advanced algorithms that measure events at the neuromuscular junction ?

where the drugs work. The use of a disposable sensor to measure electrical activity is very precise and does not require the patient?s thumb to move freely, hence eliminating many of the limitations of AMG technology.