During a surgery, doctors and surgeons use a measurement called EBL — or estimated blood loss — to determine how much blood a patient has lost, and how much needs to be returned via a transfusion. Unfortunately it’s really just an educated guess, until Gauss Surgical’s new Triton Fluid Management System makes its way into operating rooms.
Instead of weighing sponges and drapes before and after a procedure, the Triton system has doctors or nurses holding each blood-soaked cloth up to an iPad’s camera, and then taking a photo using a foot pedal on the floor. The app then sends these photos to a remote server which processes the image, and then using the company’s custom algorithm, returns a more accurate estimation of how much blood was lost during a procedure.
The system — which recently received US Food and Drug Administration approval — still isn’t 100 per cent accurate; it can’t keep track of every single drop of blood lost in the operating room. But Gauss Surgical feels its algorithm provides not only a more accurate estimate, but an easier way for hospital staff to measure and keep track of sponges using during an operation. [Gauss Surgical via medGadget]