Back

Improving Surgical Outcomes

5 July 2007 - Deltex Medical Group plc ('Deltex Medical' or 'Company'), the UK's leading haemodynamic monitoring company, announces the publication today by the Improving Surgical Outcomes Group (ISOG) of a pamphlet entitled Modernising Care for Patients Undergoing Major Surgery: Implementation Guide.

The report highlights three key areas for improved outcomes: objective pre-operative assessment of patient fitness, intra-operative fluid intervention and appropriate levels of post-operative critical care for higher risk patients. In respect of fluid management during surgery, the report's executive summary states:
'Accurate fluid intervention, through the use of monitors measuring blood flow during surgery, reduces by more than half both the number and severity of post-operative complications. Patients on average leave hospital three days sooner, reducing average lengths of stay by 20%.'

Four of the eight case studies in the report, from NHS hospitals in Gillingham, Worthing, Newcastle and Paisley, highlight the benefits of using the CardioQ™ for accurate fluid intervention during surgery. A fifth case study is from University College London Hospital (UCLH), which in March this year UCLH announced that it was implementing the CardioQ™ as a standard of care for almost all higher risk surgical patients: the CardioQ™ has been a standard of care in UCLH's intensive care unit for more than 10 years.

ISOG is an independent group of UK surgeons, anaesthetists and intensive care specialists. In 2005 ISOG published a document, "Modernising Care for Patients Undergoing Major Surgery: Improving Patient Outcomes and Increasing Clinical Efficiency" setting out the evidence base supporting the clinical and economic cases for improving NHS standard care before, during and after surgery. Both ISOG reports are available to download at www.reducinglengthofstay.org/isog.html

Deltex Medical's Chief Executive, Andy Hill commented:
'This report by an independent leading group of clinicians increases further the pressure on the NHS to implement the CardioQ™ as a standard of care during surgery. ISOG have stated clearly the benefits of being able to measure blood flow accurately during surgery: reducing post-operative complications by more than half and reducing patients' lengths of stay by three days.

'Oesophageal Doppler monitoring is the only haemodynamic monitoring technology which directly measures blood flows and is also the only technology to detect changes in blood flows either rapidly or accurately. Deltex Medical is the world leader in oesophageal Doppler monitoring.'