Application

A precision medicine algorithm that reduces mortality in sepsis patients by individualizing and targeting specific therapies to specific patients.

Key Benefits

• An algorithm that uses bedside routine vital signs to optimize the precision treatment of sepsis.
• Clinical data show the ability of the algorithm to identify a subset of patients with improved mortality after treatment with balanced crystalloids.
• Simple, inexpensive, and can be easily integrated into hospital workflows.

Market Summary

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that affects millions of people worldwide. It is characterized by an overwhelming immune response to an infection, which can lead to organ failure and death. Treating sepsis involves addressing the underlying infection, supporting organ function, and controlling inflammation. However, the one-size-fits-all approach has not worked in sepsis, and there is an urgent need to identify sepsis subphenotypes (i.e., subgroups of patients with sepsis that benefit from precision therapies). Without precision sepsis approaches through sepsis subphenotypes, mortality from sepsis remains high. More than 11 million people die annually from sepsis, with over 1.5 million in the US alone. The market growth is driven by the increasing incidence of sepsis, growing awareness about the disease, and rising demand for sepsis diagnosis and treatment. Technological advancements in diagnostic and treatment procedures are also expected to boost market growth.

Technical Summary

One of the most common treatments used in sepsis is intravenous fluids. However, there is still uncertainty in what type of intravenous fluids (balanced crystalloids versus saline) should be given to which patients. Researchers at Emory have developed an algorithm that can identify which patients would benefit from what type of intravenous fluids. The algorithm, called the Vital Sign Trajectory Algorithm, was developed by applying group-based trajectory modeling to a dataset of over 12,000 hospitalized patients with infection to discover subgroups of patients who have similar trajectories of vital signs over time (temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure). Thus far, the inventors have identified a group of patients who benefit from balanced crystalloids with a number needed to treat of 7 (for every 7 patients in this subgroup who get balanced crystalloids rather than saline, there would be 1 death prevented).