Re: Sensiject® Feedback Syringe

It is my professional opinion that the Sensiject® Syringe manufactured by Algen & Klemer, LLC offers a number of unique benefits and can play an important role in providing accurate and safe dosing of medications in a variety of clinical settings ranging from administration of medications to children by their parents at home, to use by the elderly and vision impaired and extending to multiple applications in the critical care, procedural and surgical arenas. I will comment on potential applications in my own field of expertise, cardiac catheterization.

• Radial artery catheterization is an increasingly popular technique of vascular access for coronary cath and intervention. The radial artery is highly prone to spasm and successful catheterization requires the prompt injection of concentrated doses of vasodilators (nitroglycerine and verapamil) as well as heparin immediately after arterial puncture. Small errors in dosage can lead to severe life-threatening hypotension. Use of the Sensiject® Syringe in this setting would be a practical means of avoiding such complications.


• Repeated boluses of intracoronary nitroglycerine are frequently administered during cardiac catheterization to improve visualization and prevent coronary spasm. Here again the Sensiject® Syringe would allow accurate drug administration by the physician who must concentrate on details of coronary angiographic anatomy and ideally should not be distracted by the need to visually verify correct volumes in the syringe.


• Nitroglycerine and other medications are often given at various time intervals throughout a catheterization procedure. Physicians typically flush some medication out of the syringe before each injection to ensure that they begin the injection with the level of fluid aligned to a major gradation on the barrel of the syringe. This can be wasteful of expensive medications and can result in more frequent need to refill the syringe which increases the risk of needle stick injury to the operator. Use of the Sensiject® Syringe would be expected to reduce such inefficiency and risk.

Sincerely yours,

Steven P. Sedlis, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
NYU School of Medicine
Chief, Cardiology and Cardiac Catheterization
VA NYHHCS New York Campus