Twice as many people die of sepsis compared to road accidents

NICE (National Institute of Excellence) has reported that out of 44,000 deaths in a year due to sepsis, nearly 13,000 deaths can be avoided through early detection and intervention.  A company in Bristol, BES has brought to the UK a solution, EarlySense that can help in early detection of patient deterioration that could lead to death by sepsis.

EarlySense is a non-invasive continuous monitoring system that detects a patient’s heart rate and breathing rate. Vitals such as heart rate and breathing rate can indicate a critical event such as sepsis 6-8 hours before the event occurs. 1

The Journal of Hospital Medicine published a clinical study that was performed in two different medical departments at two separate academic medical centres. The conclusion of the researchers: “When tracking adverse clinical events for patients monitored by the EarlySense device, we found the monitor was able to identify hours ahead of time most of these events. The current study provides data supporting the ability of this system to accurately predict patient deterioration.”2,3 EarlySense has proven to reduce resuscitation event by 86 %.

NICE (National Institute of Care and Excellence) has also published a review on the EarlySense which can be found on the NICE website - search for EarlySense. This review has been commissioned by NHS England and produced in support of the NHS ‘Five Year Forward View’, specifically as one of a number of steps which will accelerate innovation in new treatments and diagnostics.

1 Taenzer AH et al. Anesthesiology 2011:115 ;  Schein, R.M. et al (1990) Chest 98, pp1388-92

2Eyal Zimlichman MD, MSc, Martine Szyper-Kravitz MD, Zvika Shinar PhD, Tal Klap, Shiraz Levkovich, Avraham Unterman MD, Ronen Rozenblum PhD, MPH, Jeffrey M. Rothschild MD, MPH, Howard Amital MD, MHA, Yehuda Shoenfeld MD, Early recognition of acutely deteriorating patients in non-intensive care units: Assessment of an innovative monitoring technology, Journal of Hospital Medicine, article first published online: 3 AUG 2012".

3Omar Ford, "EarlySense gives clinicians heads up in deteriorating vitals, Medical Device Daily, September 24, 2012.