• Improving outcomes of critically ill patients

    VIPUN Medical is developing a novel Gastric Monitoring System to assist physicians in making smart decisions about the mode, timing and speed of medical nutrition.
Feeding critically ill patients is complicated since stomach function is impaired in 50% to 80% of patients at the intensive care unit (ICU). This feeding intolerance is caused by either the critical injury or medication (e.g. morphine) and physicians currently have no tools to detect to it. Undiagnosed feeding intolerance can lead to severe complications and not achieving nutritional goals, causing a longer hospital stay. The VIPUN Gastric Monitoring System, developed at the KU Leuven, consists of a balloon catheter and a monitoring unit. Once inserted into the stomach and connected to the monitoring unit, the inflated balloon monitors stomach function by sensing stomach contractions. The amount and intensity of contractions predict feeding intolerance, enabling physicians to adjust the medical nutrition infusion to the patients’ stomach function.

The VIPUN Gastric Monitoring System

Clinical evaluation of the VIPUN Gastric Balloon Catheter on