Blog - Clearflow

Adapting to the New Quality Paradigm of Preventing Heart Surgery Complications and Readmissions

Hospitals are well aware that penalties are coming down the pipeline for readmissions after heart surgery. Twenty years ago, financial incentives encouraged programs to discharge patients out of the hospital as quickly as possible after heart surgery. Consequently, the costs shifted to the out of hospital setting, which will no longer be tolerated as the new penalties kick in. How will hospitals and heart teams work together to reduce the potential…

The RBC Challenge: Program Developments to Improve Post Discharge Outcomes

For the last two decades there has been an increased focus on fast-track protocols to hasten discharge after heart surgery and other common procedures. Protocols include rapid extubation, rapid chest tube removal, and early mobilization to expedite patient discharge. This was driven by several factors, but notably by capitated reimbursement mechanisms. This helped minimize hospital costs (and thus profit), which was a primary driver, but ultimately led to costs…

Hospitals Look at RBC Prevention to Reduce Readmissions Penalties

Retained Blood Complex (RBC) is a common complication that impacts up to 20% of patients recovering form heart surgery. RBC occurs when postoperative blood is not entirely evacuated from around the heart and lungs by chest drains, often due to blood clots that form inside tubes. In serious cases, RBC can cause the need for supplemental procedures to evacuate the retained blood to restore proper function of the…

Leave No Clot Behind: The Role of Clot in Post Operative Fluid Collections

Drainage systems are used to evacuate blood from around the heart and lungs after cardiac surgery. If the drainage capacity exceeds the amount of bleeding, then the blood is fully evacuated. When the drainage capacity is impaired, for example by obstruction from chest tube clots, then blood is retained around the heart (pericardial space) and lungs (pleural spaces). Blood that is retained in these spaces cause a host of…

Retained Blood Complex Leads to Impaired Cardiac and Respiratory Recovery

Bleeding is common after heart surgery. Patients with bleeding after heart surgery clearly have worse outcomes. But why? Theoretically, if a patient is bleeding and the chest tubes adequately drain the blood from around the heart and lungs while coagulation is restored and the blood products replaced, there should not be much impact on outcomes. This is clearly not the case, however. For example in a recent study by…

Small Device Brings Big Comfort to Post-Surgical Patients

By: Charles Murray, Senior Technical Editor, Electronics & Test for Design News Recovery from heart and lung surgery may one day be more tolerable for hundreds of thousands of patients, thanks to a pair of surgeons and two engineering teams who developed a device that clears chest tube clogs. The device, shown at Design & Manufacturing Midwest in Chicago this week, changes the recovery process by eliminating the…

Active Chest Tube Drainage System Clears the Way for Better Patient Care

By: Shana Leonard Cardiothoracic surgeon Edward Boyle was a man on a mission when he partnered with Cleveland Clinic heart surgeon Marc Gillinov to establish Clear Catheter Systems Inc. (Bend, OR). After years of observing clogs and blood clots form in chest tubes and their resulting adverse effects on patients, Boyle was determined to develop a solution that overcame this dangerous design flaw. Responding to this unmet clinical…

49th Annual R&D 100 Awards

The PleuraFlow®Active Tube Clearance® System was recognized as a one of the winners of the 49th Annual R&D 100 Awards, which salute the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year.