ClearFlow is currently exhibiting its PleuraFlow Active Clearance Technology system at the 34th annual Association of Physician Assistants in Cardiovascular Surgery (APACVS) meeting (1–4 March, Las Vegas, USA). PleuraFlow will also be displayed at the Maquet Medical Systems USA booth until 4 March. Maquet is the exclusive distributor of ClearFlow’s PleuraFlow system in the USA.
The PleuraFlow System uses a first-of-its-kind technology to enable caregivers to proactively keep chest drainage tubes clear of blood clotting after heart surgery.
“It makes sense for us to be able to share our pioneering solution for chest tube clogging with the very people who so often have to deal with the problem. It is particularly rewarding to be featured within Maquet’s powerful cardiovascular devices portfolio. We share Maquet’s goals of improving patient outcomes and reducing hospital costs through the use of leading-edge technologies, as well as its passion for dialoguing directly with physician assistants, so this is very synergistic,” said ClearFlow president and chief executive officer, Paul Molloy.
Chest tube obstruction is known to occur in 36% of heart surgery patients, and nearly one in five can have some form of complication that includes the need to perform subsequent reoperation or interventions to remove blood, blood clot or bloody fluid from the pericardial or pleural spaces after cardiac surgery. These complications are referred to as retained blood syndrome.
Procedures to remove retained blood are the most common invasive reinterventions after heart surgery and postoperative atrial fibrillation is the most common complication after heart surgery. Recent results reported from a large German heart centre showed that PleuraFlow significantly lowered these common and expensive hospital complications.
PleuraFlow is approved for use in the USA, Europe, Australia, Brazil, and Canada, and has either cleared or is pending clearance in over a dozen more countries.
