St. Francis Says Contaminated Device Put Heart Surgery Patients at Risk

St. Francis Hospital in Hartford is among several hospitals warning thousands of patients about contaminated devices used during surgery that could put them at risk for infection. 

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a device used during open-heart surgery might have been contaminated during manufacturing and infections could be life-threatening. 

LivaNova PLC's Stocker 3T heater-cooler device is used to keep a patient's circulating blood and organs at a specific temperature during cardiac procedures.

More than 250,000 heart bypass procedures using this kind of device are performed every year in the United States. Out of those surgeries, approximately 60 percent of procedures used the devices linked to the infections patients are experiencing, according to the CDC. 

Patients experiencing symptoms associated with infections, such as night sweats, muscle aches, weight loss or fever, should seek medical help, according to the CDC. 

Officials from St. Francis Hospital said in a statement that they are working to alert approximately 3,000 patients who underwent open heart procedure in the last several years about possible infection. 

In addition to reaching out to patients, the hospital is replacing the at-risk equipment this month. 

The hospital asks anyone who had an open heart surgical procedure between Jan. 1, 2012 to Nov. 17, 2016 and is experiencing symptoms to call the CDC at 800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636) or find more information the CDC website

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