ClearFlow, Inc.
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| Private | |
| Industry |
Health care Medical technology manufacturing |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Headquarters |
Anaheim, California, USA 44°03′23″N 121°18′29″W / 44.056389°N 121.308056°WCoordinates: 44°03′23″N 121°18′29″W / 44.056389°N 121.308056°W |
| Products |
Medical devices Cardiothoracic Cardiac Surgery Post-surgery Intensive Care Wound Drainage |
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Number of employees
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<50 |
| Website | www |
ClearFlow, Inc. is a privately owned medical device manufacturer based in Anaheim, California. The company was founded in 2007, the result of a collaboration between the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Medical Device Innovations, LLC. The Orange County-based company manufactures wound drainage systems based on its proprietary Active Tube Clearance™ (ACT) technology.
ClearFlow, Inc. is a medical device company developing proprietary active wound evacuation systems to speed recovery, reduce complications, and lower healthcare costs in patients recovering from surgery. The company was founded in Bend, OR, as Clear Catheter Systems. The technology is based on the work of Ed Boyle, MD and A. Marc Gillinov, MD, both cardiac surgeons. While developing a proprietary self-clearing catheter system, Boyle came across a patent by Gillinov, and the two agreed to work together. In 2007, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation spun off Clear Catheter Systems, then known as PleuraFlow, LLC. In early 2014, the company relocated its operations from Bend, OR, to southern California, a world-renowned medical device hub with a strong community and a large pool of experienced talent. On March 1, 2014, Clear Catheter Systems, Inc. changed its name to ClearFlow, Inc. to reflect its focus on helping clinicians eliminate acute, sub-acute, and chronic postoperative complications of current high failure-rate wound drainage tubes.
The company's first product, the PleuraFlow® Active Clearance Technology™ (ACT) System, is intended to actively maintain wound drainage catheter patency after open cardiac and thoracic surgical procedures. The system received 510(k) regulatory clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2010, and is also approved for use in Canada and Europe.
The device is used in cardiothoracic surgical procedures like coronary artery bypass surgery, heart valve replacement and repair surgery or Ventricular Assist Device surgery to improve the evacuation of post-surgical blood from the pericardial and pleural spaces. The catheter system includes a chest tube and an internal clearance apparatus that allows clinicians to clear away obstructions that can form inside as a result of blood clotting. The clearance apparatus uses a wire with a loop that is magnetically coupled to an external handle to allow the obstructions to be cleared without breaking the sterile environment. If these obstructions are not cleared away, they can cause chest tube clogging, which can prevent fluid from draining and cause such clinical complications as pericardial tamponade, hemothorax, pleural effusions, and increased mortality. Conventional techniques to clear these obstructions, including chest tube milking and stripping, have not been shown to be effective. They also significantly increase negative intrathoracic pressures that can harm internal structures and potentially impair post-operative recovery. To combat the suboptimal methods of responding to chest tube clogging, many surgeons employ large-diameter chest tubes though they are thought to be associated with more pain.
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