It's a copycat killer - often mimicking less severe conditions and delaying much-needed, timely treatments. But sepsis - an infection that can lead to multiple organ failure, shock and even death - is a major global health challenge and is associated with one in five deaths worldwide with the burden being carried by low-resource and vulnerable populations.
Now a potential game-changing technology, developed by Rasa Eskandari, an MD-PhD student and professor Mamadou Diop, both in the department of medical biophysics at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, could turn the tide on this global killer. Their other collaborators included medical biophysics professors Chris Ellis and Dan Goldman and physiology and pharmacology professor Don Welsh.
Medical biophysics professor Mamadou Diop and MD-PhD student Rasa Eskandari from the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry are studying how to detect sepsis in its early stages, before it leads to tissue and organ injury. (Megan Morris/Schulich Medicine & Dentistry)
Using non-invasive optical technologies to detect the early onset of sepsis in rat models, these researchers are coming closer to a frugal device ideal for hospitals and clinics, and with possible applications for wearable technology in remote settings. The device measures how blood is flowing in small blood vessels (microcirculation) in both the brain and the body. It does this continuously, allowing researchers to see changes in microcirculation over time, especially during the early stages of sepsis.
Eskandari explained the benefits of the work, recently published in The FASEB Journal, in a conversation with Schulich Communications.
