Airglove air warming system for venous access

The technology described in this briefing is Airglove. It is used to warm and raise the veins in the arm to help with cannula insertion.

The innovative aspects are claimed to be that there are no other devices available which warm the arm to help with cannula access.

The intended place in therapy would be anywhere patient venous access is needed, especially for people with hidden or fragile veins that are difficult to cannulise.

The main points from the evidence summarised in this briefing are from 1 service evaluation in 80 adults in 1 NHS oncology centre in whom vascular access was judged to be difficult. It shows that using Airglove helped successful cannulation in most cases.

Key uncertainty around the technology is that the clinical evidence is very limited in quantity and quality. Further well-designed comparative studies that report all relevant outcomes would be helpful.

The cost of Airglove is £795 for the warming unit, and £0.80 per disposable glove (excluding VAT). The resource impact would be an additional cost compared with current practice which could be offset if using Airglove in selected patients saved staff time and allowed use of fewer consumables from failed attempts at cannulation.