ShockAlert: A Web Application for Early Prediction of Pending Septic Shock

Unmet Need
Each year over a million Americans contract severe sepsis. Nearly three hundred thousand of those cases end in death. Sepsis accounts for over 6% of all hospital treatment expenses in the US, costing insurance companies and individuals over $24 billion annually.
When caught early, sepsis is easily treated using standard antibiotics.  However, mild sepsis can rapidly and asymptomatically progress to severe sepsis and septic shock, often in a matter of mere hours.  Molecular biomarkers and bioassays are currently used to try and identify sepsis, but these methods are expensive and impractical. Due to their high cost, they can only be administered occasionally, and often are not administered during the crucial window in which mild sepsis transforms into severe sepsis and septic shock.
 
Technology Overview
ShockAlert provides a new method for identifying patients at risk for severe sepsis earlier and more consistently without the need for administered biomarkers or bioassays. Using machine learning systems alongside physiological time-series (PTS) data (blood pressure, respiration rate, heart rate, etc.), ShockAlert is able to establish red flag indicators that a patient is at risk of progressing into septic shock. Initial testing shows ShockAlert to be over 80% accurate at identifying patients likely to develop severe sepsis and offers a median warning time of over 30 hours, the longest window of intervention ever reported. ShockAlert is an analytical tool as opposed to a chemical or biological test and utilizes data that is already collected from most patients. The most effective treatment for sepsis is early diagnosis- ShockAlert provides a simple method with exceptional outcomes to identify sepsis before it has the chance to progress to more severe, life-threatening stages.
 
Stage of Development
Proof of concept, data-based testing, non-clinical trials
 
Publications
KE Henry, DN Hager, PJ Pronovost, S Saria. A targeted real-time early warning score (TREWScore) for septic shock. Sci Transl Med. 2015 Aug 5; 7(299):299ra122.

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