Originally Published MX March/April 2005
COVER STORY
Filling the Pipeline|
Return
to Article: |
With increased R&D spending made possible by its successful initial public offering in February 2004, Kinetic Concepts Inc. (KCI; San Antonio, TX) is moving to expand its leadership in the fields of advanced wound care and therapeutic surfaces.
The star of KCI's business in advanced wound-care systems is the company's proprietary Vacuum-Assisted Closure (VAC) technology. The success of the VAC technology—which accounted for just over 70% of the company's revenues in 2004 and nearly all of its meteoric sales growth since 2000—helps to explain why investors have put their dollars behind KCI's future.
) |
| Figure 1. The VAC Instill system by KCI. (click to enlarge) |
From its original flagship product, KCI has extended its line of VAC-based systems into more-flexible versions such as the VAC Freedom, a portable device suited for home use. The company's most recent addition to the lineup is the VAC Instill system, which combines VAC therapy with Instillation therapy to assist in the irrigation and cleansing of wounds and the removal of infectious materials (see Figure 1). The automated system controls the delivery of topical solutions such as cleansers, antibiotics, antifungals, antiseptics, and anesthetics, thereby improving patient comfort and reducing the time required for manual wound irrigation.
) |
| Figure 2. KCI's RotoProne therapy system. (click to enlarge) |
KCI's surfaces businesses have also benefited from the company's increased R&D spending. In July 2004, the company released its latest product, the RotoProne therapy system, which fully automates the proning process and offers kinetic therapy in both the supine and pronepositions, helping to preventand treat acute pulmonary complications associated with immobility (see Figure 2).
The RotoProne therapy system makes it easier to rotate a patient from the supine position to the prone position and incorporates a tube management system to organize patient lines and tubes. A hand control positioned at the head of the unit enables a single caregiver to rotate the patient while monitoring the patient's lines and tubes.
Photos courtesy KCI
Copyright ©2005 MX
