At least 85,000 people die every year in Germany from Sepsis, the most severe course of an infectious disease – also known commonly as blood poisoning. World Sepsis Day on September 1 3th draws attention to this. In the case of sepsis, it is crucial to identify the respective pathogen early and reliably. However, the detection is often not successful with the methods commonly used today. In a maximum of 30 percent of cases, a pathogen is identified using classic blood culture, in sepsis patients who have already been treated with antibiotics often in less than 10 percent of the cases.For this reason, a German-wide project led by the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Essen University Hospital is investigating how patients can benefit from a new, digital method for identifying pathogens. At the beginning of August 2023, the recruitment phase of this study was completed, earlier than planned and the evaluation of the results started.
The study “DigiSep – Optimization of Sepsis therapy based on patient-specific digital precision diagnostics” examines how the use of digital diagnostics affects the mortality of Sepsis patients, the duration of their antibiotic therapy, the risk of kidney failure and their length of stay affects the intensive care unit. For this purpose, half of the study participants (n = 205) had their blood sampled using the DISQVER® platform in addition to the standard procedures analyzed. With the help of next-generation sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatics, DISQVER® identifies more than 16,000 microbes within 24 hours, including 1,500 described pathogens (bacteria, DNA viruses, fungi and parasites).
“Significantly more than the initially planned 20 clinics have wanted to take part in the DigiSep study over the past two years, which reflects the great clinical interest in Sepsis and digital diagnostics. My very special thanks go to the colleagues in the study centers who supported the DigiSep project with a lot of heart and soul,” explains Univ.-Prof. dr medical Thorsten Brenner, Director of the Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital Essen. The great commitment also contributed to the fact that the recruitment phase could be completed earlier than planned. And that despite the fact that significant formal hurdles had to be overcome in each study center.
This is followed by a comprehensive evaluation of the study results, which will take several months. In particular, the influence of this new technology on the immediate course of the disease, but also on the quality of life and the consequential costs, is examined. The study results are expected to be published by the end of 2024.
The DigiSep project is managed by the Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital Essen as consortium leader, in close cooperation with the Chair for Health Economics & Health Management at the University of Bielefeld, the Coordination Center for Clinical Studies (KKS) and the Institute for Medical Biometry (IMBI) at the Heidelberg University Hospital and with the health insurance companies AOK Rheinland/Hamburg, BARMER and Techniker Krankenkasse. As a technical partner, the biotechnology company Noscendo controls its analysis platform DISQVER®.
The DigiSep project is funded by the Innovation Committee of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) with around 3.1 million euros. The G-BA is the highest decision-making body of joint self-government in the German healthcare system. It decides which services can be used by those with statutory health insurance.
More information can be found here: https://www.digisep.de.
In the case of Sepsis, also known commonly as blood poisoning, the body’s own defense reaction to an infection, e.g. with bacteria or viruses fails so violently that organs and tissue are significantly damaged or fail completely. This makes the disease life-threatening. In Germany, up to 300,000 people contract Sepsis every year; at least 85,000 die from or with Sepsis.
World Sepsis Day is celebrated annually on September 13th. The aim is to make Sepsis more widely known and therefore enable earlier diagnosis and more successful treatment.
https://www.Sepsiswissen.de
Innovation fund project that aims to help raise awareness of Sepsis
https://www.Sepsis-symposium.de
Clinical Symposium held on World Sepsis Day
https://www.deutschland-erkennt-Sepsis.de
Campaign of the action alliance patient safety
DigiSep c/o Universitätsklinikum Essen
Achim Struchholz
Achim.struchholz@uk-essen.de
Tel. +49 (0) 201-723-2885
Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg
Doris Rübsam-Brodkorb
presse@med.uni-heidelberg.de
Tel. +49 (0) 6221-56-4537
Universität Bielefeld
Sandra Sieraad
medien@uni-bielefeld.de
Tel. +49 (0) 521-106-4170
AOK Rheinland/Hamburg – DIE GESUNDHEITSKASSE
Kirsten Simon
presse@rh.aok.de
Tel. + 49 (0) 211-8791-28219
BARMER
Sunna Gieseke
presse@barmer.de
Tel. +49 (0) 0800-333004 99- 1421
Techniker Krankenkasse
Gabriele Baron
gabriele.baron@tk.de
Tel. +49 (0) 40-69 09 17 83
Noscendo GmbH
Dr. Peter Haug
peter.haug@noscendo.com
Tel. +49 (0)2066-506 87 82