Gauss Surgical

Summary: Every vital sign is carefully measured in the OR – except for blood loss. Visual estimation of blood loss is notoriously inaccurate, resulting in either delayed recognition of hemorrhage (underestimation) or unnecessary use of blood products (overestimation). Gauss’s solution, Triton, is a computer vision-aided platform to monitor blood loss during surgery using the iPad. Triton works by capturing digital images of sponges and canisters in surgery with the iPad’s front-facing camera, and by processing the images in real-time to algorithmically derive the Hemoglobin content with clinical-grade accuracy and precision. The iPad then delivers an accurate assessment of Blood Loss to the anesthesiologists and surgeons helping recognize hemorrhage early and optimizing transfusion decisions. Gauss helps improve patient outcomes, with the ability to help make childbirth safer for both the child and the mother – according to the CDC, 60% of maternal deaths are preventable, commonly resulting from complications like maternal hemorrhage, which can be difficult to predict. Gauss also has the potential to impact health care cost significantly by digitally enabling a next-generation platform for blood management.

Need: Every vital sign is carefully measured in the OR – except for blood loss. Visual estimation of blood loss is notoriously inaccurate, resulting in either delayed recognition of hemorrhage (underestimation) or unnecessary use of blood products (overestimation). This creates a $10B cost issue with respect to blood management, and drives a National Patient Safety issue, driving maternal mortality rates. Indeed, to the CDC, 60% of maternal deaths are preventable, commonly resulting from complications like maternal hemorrhage, which can be difficult to predict, and maternal morbidity and mortality is on the rise in the US.

Value: The first of our value propositions is Safety in surgical and obstetric hemorrhage. Achieving blood loss accuracy is a well-understood de facto priority – indeed, State-wide and National societies have lined up around the safety implications of measuring blood loss. In addition, Blood management as an economic argument is a parallel, significant value proposition that plays an important role for value-based purchasing buyers and the system as a whole. Both categories have implications for reducing patient length of stay, ICU admissions, and transfusion rates, which result in cost savings to the hospital. Gauss has developed a strong positioning around this particular value proposition, with existing literature, early clinical commercial experience, and a pipeline of clinical studies aimed at illustrating the impact of Triton on transfusion decisions. Customer experiences and published studies have led to recognition of an economic benefit to improved accuracy and decision making, leading to improved patient outcomes, and these benefits will continue to unfold over time with additional data.