Pall in-line filters can reduce severe complications, length of hospital stay in PICU

A recently published clinical study on infusion therapy indicates in-line filters from Pall Corporation (NYSE: PLL) can reduce severe complications and the length of a patient's stay in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The study was featured in Intensive Care Medicine, which is the official journal of The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine and The European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care.

Results from the prospective, randomized clinical trial showed that patients who received infusion solutions through in-line filters had a 25-percent lower overall complication rate than patients without the filter. The length of hospital stay of patients treated with filters also was reduced by nearly a day. Pall filter technology was used in the study, which is listed on the U.S. National Institutes of Health's Clinical Trials database under reference NCT00209768.

According to the study, particulate contamination due to infusion therapy, which typically involves delivering fluids intravenously, poses a potential health risk for intensive care patients. The contamination of infusion solutions by particles is widely unappreciated with underestimated side effects of intravenous (IV) therapy. Complications that can occur from infusion therapy include a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), organ failure (circulation, liver, kidney) and thrombosis.

"The trial, the largest clinical IV filtration study to date, clearly demonstrates the safety and efficacy of in-line filtration in preventing major complications during PICU care. It shows that filtration is a preventive strategy to decrease morbidity of critically ill patients and is able to reduce duration of mechanical ventilation and length of stay on PICU," said Dr. Michael Sasse, the study director from Hannover Medical School. "We believe that in-line filtration is a major step toward improving the safety of infusion therapy."