Cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death around the world, killing 7 million to 9 million people a year. With standard care, 1 out of 10 people survive cardiac arrest. Neurescue, founded by Dr. Habib Frost and headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, aims to bring that survival rate to 9 out of 10 people with its new device.
Currently under U.S. Food and Drug Administration review, the Neurescue device is designed to increase blood flow to the brain and heart during life-threatening emergencies. Standard care in treating cardiac arrest involves chest compressions and defibrillation. This replaces about a third of the blood flow in the body and compressions prolong the life of a patient for about 30 minutes. This small window and lack of blood can ultimately cause brain damage and even death.
The Neurescue device.
Neurescue
The Neurescue device can double the amount of time for a physician to control blood loss and increase the opportunity for additional lifesaving procedures such as stents or pacemakers. A catheter-based device is inserted via the femoral artery, blocking blood flow to the lower extremities within a minute and rerouting it to vital organs.
“What we intend with Neurescue is to increase that time window so that we finally have enough time to bring these patients to these specialized hospital departments to finally bring these patients onto this existing advanced machinery where we can support their hearts, place these stents and place these pacemakers that we know will be able to bring that heart out of that cardiac arrest situation,” Frost tells CNBC.
The Neurescue device inflated.
Neurescue
Initially, the device will be available for severe bleeding, and future applications will be for cardiac arrest. While currently intended for use by physicians and medical professionals, Frost hopes to build additional Neurescue devices for use by nonphysicians.
“That’s at the core of our soul, is to enable that kind of therapy for these countless patients that simply don’t get that treatment offered today. That’s the big picture of where we’re headed and what really motivates us in the team,” Frost said.
Watch the video above to learn more about the Neurescue device.
