The Nantes start-up has just obtained authorization to market its machine to European hospitals and clinics.
This device filters the patient's blood, cleans it, and pours it into a bag that can be immediately reused for the rest of the operation.
Red blood cells and platelets are preserved.
This is "a pivotal moment" after years of research and prototypes.
A few days ago, the Nantes-based company i-SEP obtained authorization to market its machine described as "unpublished" to European hospitals and clinics.
Created six years ago, this "medtech" has set itself the objective of improving the process of autotransfusion of patients during haemorrhagic operations, namely those where blood loss can be significant.
“During heart surgery, a patient can lose a liter or two, or even ten in total, reports Sylvain Picot, president and co-founder of i-SEP, which employs around twenty people.
We want to avoid recourse to blood bank products as much as possible, while the shortage continues to worsen.
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Concretely, this device is capable in record time (6 minutes for 50 cl of blood) of filtering the patient's blood, cleaning it (for example of possible drugs), concentrating it, and pouring it into a bag that can be immediately reused. , for the continuation of the intervention.
Easier logistically and less expensive than bringing in a pocket but also safer, assure the managers of i-SEP, since it avoids possible problems “of contamination and incompatibility”.
Twenty centers soon to be equipped?
But the major advantage is that this system reinjects white blood cells, red blood cells, but also and especially platelets, unlike existing devices.
“These are the most expensive blood products and those that are most lacking, even though they are in high demand for example in oncology, observes Guillaume Laurent, the sales and marketing director.
Our clinical trial carried out on fifty patients in four centers in France showed that we could recover more than 50% and that reinjected, these platelets could continue to play their haemostasis role perfectly, particularly in blood coagulation.
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The director hopes that 20 expert centers in Europe will be equipped with the machine within a year, manufactured and assembled in Vendée.
Several hundred thousand patients could be affected by this innovation each year in France.
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