Study Demonstrates Concern for Retained Blood Syndrome after Heart Surgery; ClearFlow Executives Comment on New Data
<0> for ClearFlow, Inc.Paul Williams, 310-569-0023 </0>
Cardiac anesthesia investigators from Germany presented data this week at the International Anesthesia Research Society’s (IARS) 2015 Annual Meeting and International Science Symposium in Honolulu, HI. Critical care specialists from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin’s Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine presented from 6,909 patients. Results from the data revealed that more than 16% of the patients studied required surgical reinterventions to deal with complications related to Retained Blood Syndrome (RBS). Patients who required reinterventions were reported to have a statistically significant increase in mortality, longer ICU and hospital stays as well as higher incidence of hemodialysis and longer ventilator time, complicating their post-operative recovery.
“Chest drainage tubes are routinely used to prevent retained blood in patients during early recovery after heart surgery. Complete occlusion is known to occur in 36% of chest tubes, and nearly one in five cardiac surgery patients have some form of RBS that includes the need to perform subsequent re-operation or interventions to remove blood, blood clot or bloody fluid from around the heart and lungs during recovery,” said Ed Boyle, M.D., the founder and chairman of ClearFlow, Inc. ClearFlow, a medical device company based in Anaheim, CA, is the manufacturer of the innovative ® Active Clearance Technology® System – a first of its kind technology that enables caregivers to proactively keep chest drainage tubes clear of blood clots and minimizes the occurrence of Retained Blood Syndrome after heart surgery.
“This study underscores a clear unmet clinical need for patients recovering from cardiac surgery. It further suggests that preventing retained blood in the chest could translate to better patient outcomes,” added ClearFlow’s CEO, Paul Molloy. “Hospitals today are shouldering the burden of extensive cost increases due to lack of consistent protocols regarding blood evacuation after cardiac surgery and the unacceptable failure with current available drains. Growing data reveals that heart surgery patients may often unnecessarily require additional interventional procedures, longer ICU and hospital stays, hospital re-admissions, and sometimes even death -- due to the complications caused by inadequate drainage. This is a problem that has a relatively simple solution. PleuraFlow is an easy to use medical device that has been shown to significantly lower these common and expensive hospital complications.”
The PleuraFlow Active Clearance Technology System is approved for use in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and other countries in Asia and the Middle East.
, Inc. is an Anaheim, CA based medical device company that has developed a patented active blood and fluid evacuation system to speed recovery, reduce complications and lower healthcare costs related to medical tube obstruction. The company has been awarded several prestigious awards, including the for worldwide innovation that has the potential to change the standard of care in heart and lung surgery, and the , among others.