The silver bullet?25 Oct 2023 18:28
The board talk/hope that the "sepsis screen" will revolutionise sepsis management.
I write as an investor rather than a trader where the following has no relevance.
When a patient presents with a possible sepsis or infection there is already many applications/algorithms available to help in a diagnosis.
Observations of heart rate,pulse,BP,O2 saturation and temperature.
Then there is blood gas analysis which will give pH,pCO2,pO2 and very likely lactate analysis giving indication of acidosis.
In addition to this there is further tests that can be carried out full blood count (especially white cells),crp,lactate,procalcitonin,blood cultures and swabs.
Paraytec,as of the last RNS,has an unproven,still in development method of detecting possible sepsis.Even if proved up,the use of the test will be in addition to all of the above and not a sweeping replacement.
Most disease is diagnosed using a jigsaw of information.
Better sepsis diagnosis is important but will never be confirmed using just the one parameter.In this day and age, deciding to treat/ not treat on that basis would be a litigation nightmare.
So,a silver bullet - no,but a useful tool - hopefully.
A long long way to go to gain a proven method with medical accreditation,and then you have to sell it into the marketplace.