Father’s Death from Inline Staph Infection Inspires Son To Innovate and Create A FDA Approved Medical Device Without a Need for A Sterile Field To Catheterize a Heart

This is quite the story both from the sad portion of his father surviving heart surgery but then only to die from an inline staph infection. You can watch the video on the Reavill system and see how it works. When it comes to inspiration and saving someone else from the same fate as his father, you know we have passion here.

With Sepsis being the 10th leading cause of death, and inline infections being a potential cause of death, I hope the product gets a try by some community or other hospital system soon. BD

ReavillMED CV

His 59-year-old father survived heart surgery in 1994 only to die of an ensuing staph infection. The infection came from a central line catheter that was inserted into his dad’s heart through a large vein in his neck.

“He languished for 22 days,” Reavill said.

Central lines are used to administer medications and get diagnostic readings in patients. Now Reavill has invented a device that he says could have prevented his dad’s infection and thousands of others by stopping germs from entering the body during placement of a central line.

The invention, called the ReavillMED CV, won an international innovation award last month at the Health Pitch Battlefield competition sponsored by OmniCompete in London.

In announcing the winner, OmniCompete judges said, Reavill “developed a simple way to catheterize the heart without the need for creating a sterile field.”

Instead of manually feeding the catheter into a vein, his device has a syringe that pushes the catheter into the blood, he said. There, circulation floats it to the heart in about 30 seconds.

The irony is not lost on Reavill: He couldn’t pass his fluid dynamics class in college, but his innovation relies on fluid dynamics to deliver the catheter to the heart.

Reavill said his device is less prone to infection or complications and is easier to use.

Reavill secured FDA approval in December and hired a former colleague to help him market the new device. He sold portions of his company to stay solvent during the past few years and depleted his own savings.

A few hospitals are studying Reavill’s product. All he needs is one hospital to use it and others will follow, he said.

http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news/8521465-418/dads-death-leads-to-medical-innovation.html