Nellcor has been a provider of pulse oximetry products since 1981. After a series of acquisitions, the company's brand name and assets are currently owned by Medtronic, which still produces Nellcor-branded sensors and pulse oximeters.
History
Nellcor was founded in 1981 by Dr. William New, Jr., who was a professor of anesthesiology at Stanford University. William had done research at Stanford to find ways of measuring blood oxygen levels and decided to create Nellcor as a way to build pulse oximeters to measure blood oxygen levels in a non-invasive manner. The name Nellcor was built using the initials of the three co-founders (William New, Jack Lloyd, and James Corman).[1] William also acted as the CEO for the new business venture.[2]
The first product released by Nellcor was the N-100 pulse oximeter, which was designed to operate at the patient's bedside. It was followed by a smaller handheld version, called the N-10 pulse oximeter. For sensors, Nellcor manufactured two types of sensors: a reusable sensor that could clamp onto a patient's finger and a disposable sensor that would use adhesives to wrap around the patient's finger. In both cases, the sensor would read the patient's SpO2 and pulse rate using red LEDs and connected to the pulse oximeter using a cable called a patient module.