Extract:
“Every year, more than 5 million patients are admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) across the United States, with costs of roughly $82 billion, or 0.66% of the gross domestic product.4 These numbers stress the importance of constant critical care efficiency improvement in the US and most likely also in all other countries around the globe.
IV in-line filter technology developed over the course of 50 years from protecting the patients from bacteria into small bedside manufactured devices, which today can protect ICU patients from not only intraluminal bacteria, but also from, endotoxin, air, and particles that may enter the patient’s blood stream. Over the last 5 decades, numerous studies have shown a wide range of benefits of IV in-line filters. Without these benefits, ICU patients and medical staff could be in a very different situation. So, what could the world look like without 0.2 µm and 1.2 µm IV in-line filters and no other technology substituting bedside filtration?”
