About this briefing

Medtech innovation briefings summarise the published evidence and information available for individual medical technologies. The briefings provide information to aid local decision‑making by clinicians, managers and procurement professionals.

Medtech innovation briefings aim to present information and critically review the strengths and weaknesses of the relevant evidence, but contain no recommendations and are not formal NICE guidance.

Changes after publication

September 2015: Minor maintenance.

Development of this briefing

This briefing was developed for NICE by Birmingham and Brunel Consortium. The interim process & methods statement sets out the process NICE uses to select topics, and how the briefings are developed, quality‑assured and approved for publication.

Project team

  • Birmingham and Brunel Consortium

  • Medical Technologies Evaluation Programme, NICE

Authors

  • Rui Duarte, Research Fellow, Birmingham and Brunel Consortium, University of Birmingham

  • Zulian Liu, Research Fellow, Birmingham and Brunel Consortium, University of Birmingham

Peer reviewers and contributors

  • Catherine Meads, Deputy Director, Birmingham and Brunel Consortium, Brunel University

  • Carole Cummins, Director, Birmingham and Brunel Consortium, University of Birmingham

Specialist commentators

The following specialist commentators provided comments on a draft of this briefing:

  • Deborah Dawson, Consultant Nurse Critical Care, St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

  • Catherine Plowright, Consultant Nurse Critical Care, Medway NHS Foundation Trust; Professional Advisor British Association of Critical Care Nurses

  • Charlotte Small, Specialty Trainee Anaesthetics/Intensive Care Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham

  • Huw Griffiths, Senior Nurse Critical Care, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust

Declarations of interest

No relevant interests were declared.

Copyright

© National Institute for Health and Care Excellence 2015. All rights reserved. NICE copyright material can be downloaded for private research and study, and may be reproduced for educational and not‑for‑profit purposes. No reproduction by or for commercial organisations, or for commercial purposes, is allowed without the written permission of NICE.

ISBN: 978‑1‑4731‑1374‑9