Takuo Aoyagi
Takuo Aoyagi | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 14, 1936 Niigata Prefecture, Japan |
| Died | April 18, 2020 (aged 84) Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Alma mater | Niigata University |
| Known for | Pulse oximeter |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Engineering |
Takuo Aoyagi (青柳卓雄, Aoyagi Takuo, February 14, 1936 — April 18, 2020) was a Japanese engineer, known for his work leading to the modern
Early life, education and career
Aoyagi was born February 14, 1936, in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. His parents were Monshichi and Tatsu Aoyagi. His father was a mathematics teacher and his mother was a homemaker.[1]
Aoyagi received an undergraduate degree in
Pulse oximetry
An earlier oximeter had been invented by
An obstacle was that the pulse of blood created a great deal of noise. Early devices tried to work around this by limiting measurement to the ear, and with other methods. Shortly after starting at Nihon Kohden in 1971, Aoyagi showed how to remove the noise from the measurement, leading to a practical and accurate measurement of oxygen in the blood. Similar ideas were developed slightly later by Masaichiro Konishi and Akio Yamanishi of Minolta.[2]
Nihon Kohden submitted an application for a patent on the resulting device in 1974, which named Aoyagi and his colleague Michio Kishi (who helped create a pilot model) as co-inventors. The patent was granted in 1979.[2]
In 2007, World Health Organization listed pulse oximeter as an essential device for Surgical Safety Checklist for Patient.[3][4]
Later career
Nihon Kohden moved Aoyagi to a desk job in 1975, and only brought him back into their research group ten years later.[5][6] After returning to research, Aoyagi came back to ideas similar to those of the pulse oximeter. He developed a device, which he called a "pulse spectrophotometer", and which used these ideas to measure the diffusion of a dye injection in the bloodstream. This gave a relatively non-invasive way to measure liver blood flow and plasma volume.[5]
Death
Aoyagi died in Tokyo on April 18, 2020.[1][3]
Awards and honors
The
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Schwartz, John; Hida, Hikari (May 1, 2020). "Takuo Aoyagi, an Inventor of the Pulse Oximeter, Dies at 84". New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
- ^ S2CID 10109200.
- ^ a b Goodrich, Joanna (May 22, 2020). "Takuo Aoyagi, Inventor of the Pulse Oximeter, Dies at Age 84". IEEE Spectrum. IEEE. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ "WHO Surgical Safety Checklist". WHO. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ S2CID 195330071.
- ^ Smith, Harrison (May 4, 2020). "Takuo Aoyagi, whose pulse oximeter helps hospitals fight coronavirus, dies at 84". Washington Post. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ "IEEE Medal for Innovations in Healthcare Technology Recipients: Takuo Aoyagi". IEEE. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
Further reading
Aoyagi, Takuo (1992). Pulse oximetry: Its origin and development. IEEE. pp. 2858–2859.