Early sepsis diagnosis in babies thanks to technology

Sepsis is a body’s aggressive and life-threatening inflammatory response to infection. Because the condition is difficult to recognize, especially in babies, treatment is often started too late, with all the consequences that entails. Being able to make the correct diagnosis in newborns earlier is of great importance for the survival chances of babies. Because these young patients are not yet able to indicate that they feel sick, sepsis is often only discovered when it is almost too late.

Sepsis diagnosis from heart rhythm

The HeRO warning system as it is with the Erasmus MC has been used in combination with blood tests for several years, can change this. The hospital is the first in the Netherlands to apply this technology.

HeRO is able to predict this condition before the first symptoms appear. To do this, the system measures heart rate variability. The results of those measurements are compared with data from previous studies of other sick babies. If a change is detected, the system issues an alarm message. “The chance is then that it is due to sepsis. Then as a doctor you can intervene early, even before the baby becomes seriously ill,” says pediatrician-neonatologist Rob Taal of Erasmus MC.

Taal has investigated the effect of that sepsis warning system in preterm infants. For this purpose, the big data analyzes of the heart rhythms of 1200 young patients were examined. The first results of the study show that HeRO has reduced the number of babies dying from sepsis by a quarter. Because the diagnosis of sepsis is made at an earlier stage, treatment can be started earlier.

Avoid unnecessary medication

An additional advantage of detecting sepsis in newborns at an early stage is the fact that these young patients can be prevented from receiving unnecessary antibiotics. This medication is usually started immediately if heart rhythm variability is detected. However, in certain cases this does not necessarily mean that the baby is suffering from sepsis.

To prevent the baby from being given antibiotics unnecessarily, the HeRO warning system in the Sophia Children’s Hospital is combined with blood tests. “We test the blood for various values ​​in time and can therefore accurately estimate whether the baby is developing sepsis and whether he has been helped with antibiotics,” says Rob Taal.

To reduce unnecessary antibiotic use in newborns developed Erasmus MC also launched the NeoPINs app last year. This indicates when it may be necessary to start with antibiotics and when to stop the treatment.

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