ClearFlow Participates in Clinical Panel Presentations at Critical Care Conference

Washington, DC – September 20, 2016—ClearFlow Inc., a medical device company based in Anaheim, CA, participated in a series of panel presentations related to the clinical and economic benefits of maintaining chest tube patency following cardiothoracic surgery last Friday at a session sponsored during the Cardiovascular-Thoracic (CVT) Critical Care Conference in Washington DC. Clinical cardiac surgery intensive care leaders from around the world gathered at the conference, organized by the Foundation for the Advancement of CardioThoracic Surgical Care (FACTS-Care) in Washington, DC.

CVT Critical Care Conference is one of the premier settings for cardiac critical care exchange of ideas. Specialists meet at the CVT Critical Care Conference each year to discuss the latest concepts, technology, and protocols and formulate new approaches and clinical practice standards for the care of patients recovering from heart surgery in their hospitals.

Presentations given by A. Marc Gillinov, MD (Cardiac Surgeon, Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery at Cleveland Clinic); Louis P. Perrault, MD, Ph.D., FRCSC, FAHA, FACS (Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon, Universite de Montreal and Montreal Heart Institute); and Edward Boyle, MD (Cardiothoracic Surgeon and Founder and Chairman of ClearFlow) were followed by a panel discussion.

At this year’s meeting, Dr. Gillinov spoke of the “who, what when why and how” relating to active clearance of chest tubes. Dr. Perrault spoke about how blood retained around the heart is one of the triggers for inflammation that contributes to the frequency of Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation (POAF) in patients after cardiac surgery. Dr. Boyle shared recently published data and analysis detailing the high costs to treat the complications from retained blood after cardiac surgery, not only in terms of the delayed recovery for patients, but also the added financial burden for hospitals and health care systems caring for them.

“Every patient that has heart surgery requires drainage catheters to remove shed blood from around the heart and lungs in the early hours of recovery in the ICU – and we now have ample evidence that the clogging of those drainage catheters are associated with serious setbacks in terms of complications and cost,” said Paul Molloy, ClearFlow’s President & CEO, who also served as panel moderator. “Recent studies published in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and Annals of Thoracic Surgery have shown a benefit of actively clearing chest drains to prevent retained blood and other complications. The panelists who participated in last week’s event shared additional insights as to just how urgently needed an innovative solution such as the PleuraFlow technology has become.”

“There is now evidence not only that chest tube clogging is common and contributes to higher complications and costs, but that preventing chest tube clogging results in significantly improved outcomes,” said Dr. Boyle. “These clinical research findings are important for heart programs looking for ways to improve outcomes and reduced costs for patients recovering from heart surgery.
The PleuraFlow Active Clearance Technology System is approved for use in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Brazil, and Canada, and has either cleared or is pending clearance in over a dozen more countries.
The technology is exclusively distributed in the US by Getinge Group.

About ClearFlow, Inc.

ClearFlow, 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 European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons Techno-College Innovation Award for worldwide innovation that has the potential to change the standard of care in heart and lung surgery, and the Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions Award, among others.

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PleuraFlow and Active Clearance Technology are registered trademarks of ClearFlow, Inc.

Media Contact:
Paul Williams
310/569-0023
paul@medialinecommunications.com