Its Devices Bring Relief To Patients - ON-Q

The device can also deliver anti bacterial agents...perhaps helpful with the MRSA battle at surgical sites.....BD

Two things you don't want in a hospital: infection and pain. Infection can be fatal, especially with the rise of antibiotic resistance. Opiate painkillers can be addictive and weaken the immune system, adding to the risk of infection. A publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the number of U.S. hospital infections at 2 million a year, with 500,000 from surgical sites. The cost to patients and the health care system is hard to assess, but it could be more than $10 billion a year, according to several reports. People who contract a surgical-site infection are twice as likely to die as those who escape infection. Much of that misery can be avoided, says Donald Earhart, chief executive of I-Flow IFLO. His company makes ON-Q, a device that pumps non-narcotic painkillers and anti-infection agents right to the wound site.

With ON-Q, the incidence of infection fell from 14.5% to 6.5%. The device delivers both painkiller and anti-bacterial agents to the wound through a catheter attached to a small pump. The surgeon can put it in place while closing the wound.