Thousands of lives could be saved by new ‘sepsis sieve’ machine

The ‘sepsis sieve’ machine, which removes and cleans the blood of dangerous microbes through the use of magnets, has been created by British scientist Dr George Frodsham.

Dr Frodsham said “This is early-stage technology we are doing, we have got a prototype but at the moment this is in-lab concept work.”

Sepsis, which is known as the ‘silent killer’, occurs in the body when an infection sets off an immune response, leading the body to attack its own organs. It is the primary cause of avoidable death in the UK, killing at least 44,000 a year.  If caught early, the condition can be controlled with antibiotics, but can quickly spread without an early diagnosis.

The new machine removes blood from a patient’s veins, using magnetic particles to clean the blood, before being put back into the body. The particles bind to the sepsis-causing bacteria, as well as microbes known as endotoxins, which speed up the immune ‘sepsis cascade’ response.

The UK Sepsis Trust’s Dr Ron Daniels, said “Any novel therapeutic technology which aims to improve outcomes from sepsis has the potential to help thousands of people.”

The device is to undergo its first clinical trials next year and will also be tested for the treatment of blood-borne diseases such as leukaemia and malaria, and has been backed by Innovate UK and the Wellcome Trust.

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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