News & Events

< Back to News Overview

Advanced Management of Cardiogenic Shock with Cardiovascular Clinical Decision Support

15 / 08 / 2011

Cardiogenic shock is a life threatening condition in which the heart is unable to pump sufficient blood. The most common causes are serious heart complications. Fast and accurate treatment greatly increases survival rates. When cardiogenic shock is undiagnosed and untreated, the outlook is poor – a new clinical decision support tool assists in the management of this critical condition.

The
NavigatorTM cardiovascular clinical decision support system aids clinicians to quickly identify cardiogenic shock, and other problems resulting from loss of circulatory control. Real-time, graphical feedback about the patient’s status helps doctors and critical care nurses to interpret the effect of treatments.

A
case study simulation demonstrates how Navigator™ simplifies the care of cardiogenic shock. In the simulation, Navigator™ assists the clinician by displaying a single real time physiological picture of the patient’s circulatory status. The graphical interface supports the diagnosis of cardiogenic shock by displaying precise, real time reactions to cardiovascular management. The clinician quickly realizes that the patient is no longer volume responsive, administers dobutamine (a drug commonly used to treat heart failure and cardiogenic shock) and rapidly resuscitates the patient.

“Today, clinical teams have access to more parameters than ever before, and while the information is valuable, it adds complexity and difficulty”, says Philip Daffas, CEO of Applied Physiology. “The challenge now is to simplify the increasingly crowded care environment and provide the clarity doctors and nurses need to make optimal and timely treatment decisions."

Navigator™ is an example of a new generation of clinical decision support devices that simplify and enhance critical care delivery. The system, from Sydney based Applied Physiology, provides volumetric, vasoactive and cardioactive information which it automatically compares with clinician defined targets, for a clear picture of the patient’s progress and response to interventions.
About Applied PhysiologyApplied Physiology Pty Ltd is an Australian owned, Sydney based medical decision support software company. The company’s flagship product is Navigator™, a patented and innovative cardiovascular clinical decision support system designed to help the intensive care unit (“ICU”) clinical team improve patient outcomes, increase safety and better manage costs in the critical care patient environment. The efficacy and safety of Navigator™ were assessed in a multi-centre randomised trial in 112 patients recovering from open-heart surgery in seven leading Australian tertiary ICUs. Results of the trial were published in the Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Journal in March 2011, “Computer based haemodynamic
guidance system is effective and safe in management of postoperative cardiac
surgery patients


Navigator™ is currently available as a standalone device. A version suitable for embedding into the new generation of advanced bedside patient monitors is now being piloted with Philips Healthcare. These monitors connect to the hospital information system, improve clinical information access and simplify the physical critical care environment.

Navigator™ will be on display in the Applied Physiology and Philips Healthcare booths at the upcoming European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) congress in Berlin, 1-5 October 2011.