Thrombotect
- Shayan Hemmati
- Timothy Bedard
- Sneha Batheja
- Sarah Kulkarni
- Ayon Mitra
- Aryaman Shodhan
- Isabel Vanderzee
- Bill Zhang
- Adam Sapirstein, MD
- Collin Shale
- Elliott Haut, MD
- Michael Streiff, MD
- Steven Tropello, MD
- David Maher
Abstract:
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is the formation of a blood clot in a major vein (usually in the lower limbs). The most severe complication of DVT is pulmonary embolism (PE). This occurs when a thrombus detaches from the vein and migrates to the pulmonary circulation. DVT has a prevalence as high as 10% in ICU patients, and the associated costs of DVTs are tens of millions of dollars per year in the US. While all ICU patients are at increased risk for DVT, there is no consensus standard for diagnostic ultrasound screening. Instead, in most ICUs, clinicians make screening decisions based on their estimates of DVT probability in individual patients. This may lead to late or missed diagnoses along with unnecessary testing. Our team has developed a wearable, temperature-based screening tool that will alert clinicians about the probability of DVT. Thrombotect will give physicians a continual method to monitor ICU patients for the probability of DVT formation. This information can be used to pursue diagnostic ultrasound and treat DVT when necessary. This paradigm should reduce time to treatment, mortality rates, and costs of care.