September 15, 2014

Blood-cleansing biospleen device developed for sepsis therapy



Novel dialysis-like therapeutic device inspired by the spleen quickly filters bacteria, fungi and toxins

Things can go downhill fast when a patient has sepsis, a life-threatening condition in which bacteria or fungi multiply in a patient's blood — often too fast for antibiotics to help. A new device inspired by the human spleen and developed by a team at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering may radically transform the way doctors treat sepsis.