A new blood test designed to detect sepsis earlier in at-risk patients demonstrated a survival rate of 95 percent in a study led by Penn State.
The study, published July 14 in Critical Care Explorations, found that Cytovale's IntelliSep Index sepsis test was also cheaper than alternative solutions, at just $3,849 per patient as opposed to the widely-available, alternative procalcitonin sepsis test's 94 percent survival rate and cost of $4,656 per patient.
"For patients who have sepsis, getting sent home from the hospital is very serious because they can suffer multiple-organ failure within hours," Christopher Hollenbeak, PhD, study lead and a professor of health policy and administration at the Penn State College of Health and Human Development stated in a Sept. 25 news release. "Every year, there are patients who enter the emergency department of a hospital, present with a limited number of sepsis symptoms and are sent home. This test could save many of those people's lives."