Improvement in Heart Function in Organ Donor Animal Model Using CytoSorb(R) Highlighted at the Western Thoracic Surgical Association Meeting

Market Wire


MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ, Jun 29, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- CytoSorbents Corporation CTSO +8.47% , a critical care-focused company using blood purification to modulate the immune system, reduce severe inflammation, and prevent or treat organ failure caused by life-threatening illnesses, announced promising large animal data from a research collaboration with Dr. David Rabkin, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. In a presentation today entitled "Effect of Cytokine Hemoadsorption on Brain Death Induced Ventricular Dysfunction in a Porcine Model" at the Annual Meeting of the Western Thoracic Surgical Association in Hawaii, Dr. Rabkin will present animal data supporting the potential future use of CytoSorb(R) blood purification to protect the viability of organs donated by patients whose organs still function, but who have been declared officially dead from irreversible brain injury.

Dr. Rabkin commented, "While the vast majority of organ transplants rely on cadaveric donors, it's long been appreciated that brain death creates an environment hostile to organ function. This effect is particularly pronounced in the heart where estimates suggest that about 20% of potential organ donors are excluded from cardiac donation due to the effects of brain death on cardiac function. One of the components of the body's reaction to brain death is a surge in inflammatory cytokines which have been shown in other contexts to importantly depress heart function. Using the CytoSorb(R) hemoadsorption technology in a porcine model we demonstrated that cytokine filtration significantly improves heart function after brain death compared to brain dead animals that did not undergo cytokine filtration. This may have important implications for expanding the cardiac donor pool and reducing the increasing disparity between the supply and demand of hearts for transplantation and warrants further study."

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