The “flight simulator” for sepsis treatment
Sepsis, more commonly known by the public as blood poisoning, is probably one of the most underestimated infectious diseases in the world, with severe consequences for all health systems globally. Roughly 50 million people suffer from sepsis every year worldwide, with alarmingly high national mortality rates ranging from 15% to 50%, even in highly developed countries. Due to its lethality, every 2.8 seconds a person dies of sepsis, amounting to 11 million deaths annually, making it the most lethal infectious disease in the world and one of the greatest medical challenges of our time.
Besides the tremendous medical burden, the national healthcare costs incurred by sepsis are incomparably high, accounting for an average of 2.65% of national healthcare budgets globally. Sepsis treatments are a massive cost driver in hospitals, with the average septic patient’s treatment costing roughly $22,000 in the US, with treatment costs exceeding staggering $50,000 in severe cases. According to research by the Agency for Healthcare and Quality (AHRQ), the US healthcare system alone spends more than $38 billion on treating septic patients annually. Consequently, it is no surprise that both the Global Sepsis Alliance and the World Health Organization warn of sepsis as a trigger for a global health crisis that must be counteracted through medical innovations that improve the detection and treatment of sepsis while driving medical costs down.
This call for treatment innovation has been heard by the company and the result of their outstanding work is the most advanced decision support tool for intensive care physicians in the treatment of septic patients. The solution is based on an innovative RL-Algorithm that can evaluate and suggest sepsis treatment cycles at the level of leading intensive care physicians and has been proven to help decrease mortality among septic patients. The company can thereby draw on an incomparable set of medical experience which has been attained through comprehensive training data and is able to compute as well as simulate the outcome of every possibly effective treatment strategy. Furthermore, the algorithm monitors whether the patient’s vital signs correspond to the ideal recovery process, providing intensive care physicians with incomparably detailed insights to be ahead of critical condition changes.
Apart from making a massive contribution to the global battle against sepsis, their algorithm stands out because research suggests that its simulation and monitoring capabilities can be extended to other infections treated in intensive care units as well. Apart from its demanding use case in intensive care units, it can also be used as a simulation tool for educational purposes, making it the most advanced “flight simulator” for medical training available.
The company’s innovative algorithm and computational power will usher in a new treatment era, thereby putting intensive care data to its most innovative use yet. Their vision is to become the leading decision support tool in intensive care units globally, dispensing physicians with unrivalled medical insights as well as saving both valuable treatment time and providing reassurance to intensive care physicians.
The algorithm is suitable for developing and introducing two different products to the market:
- Educational Tool: simulation of septic patients for training and further education.
- Decision-Support Tool: clinically approved tool in intensive care units.
