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Acadian announces major advance in administering life-saving drugs, fluids

(click for printable image)

Field Training Officer Michael Noel demonstrates the use of the EZ-IO system on Paramedic Field Supervisor Rene Millet.

 

Contact: W. Keith Simon, VP, PR & Marketing, 1.800.259.3333

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, May 24, 2005

Officials of Acadian Ambulance Service said today that a new device now in use by its field medics can save hundreds of lives in the company's two-state service area. Dr. Ross Judice, executive vice president and chief medical officer, said the EZ-IO(tm), world's first battery-powered intraosseous access device will allow administration of life-saving drugs or fluids to patients when traditional intravenous (IV) access is difficult or impossible.

"The EZ-IO," Judice said, "allows the drugs or fluids to be administered through the marrow cavity of a long bone (the intraosseous area) when shock, trauma or cardiac arrest causes the peripheral veins to collapse. The bone acts as a non-collapsible vein, through which drugs or fluid can be administered rapidly and safely. While this has been known for generations, the problem has been finding a way to safely penetrate the hard part of the bone to gain access to the marrow. The EZ-IO driver which was developed by researchers at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio and is manufactured and marketed by Vidacare, a leading medical device company, solves that problem."

The new device, full title of which is the EZ-IO Adult Intraosseous infusion system, allows medics to drill an IV point into the hollow part of the leg bone and deliver fluids within 10 seconds, Judice said. "The preferred point for drilling is the front of the shinbone," he added, "because there is very little in the way of muscles or nerves to drill through."

According to research by Vidacare, Judice said, desperately needed IVs cannot be started in more than 5 million patients a year nationwide, and thousands die as a result. "For medics such as ours, being unable to rapidly establish intravenous (IV) access in patients suffering from acute injury or illness has been a nightmare. They are delighted with the lifesaving capability of EZ-IO."

Judice says the device represents the culmination of efforts to provide an intraosseous alternative to IVs that began in the early 1800s. "There have been varying levels of success over the years," he said. "The earliest successes involved vascular access through the sternum. The technique was used extensively during World War II, with some 4,000 cases documented. Civilian emergency medical service in those days was rudimentary - usually consisting of little more than First Aid and transportation - and those returning servicemen familiar with the technique did not enter the EMS field. Their training and skills were lost, along with the technique for injecting fluids into the bone marrow."

Judice said intensive research resumed in the 1980s, and there has been successful IO treatment for children for over 20 years. The hardness of bones, however, stymied progress for adult victims of accident and illness.

"It is difficult to express the excitement our people feel over the EZ-IO breakthrough that allows fluids to be quickly delivered through the bone marrow for all patients," he said. "We have a revolutionary new capability that can make the difference between life and death when collapsed veins prevent administration of an IV. It is invaluable also to our medics and patients, as well as to first responder organizations, military medics and hospital emergency room personnel."

Acadian Ambulance Service, founded in 1971, is the nation's largest privately owned ambulance service. Headquartered in Lafayette and employee-owned through the ESOP Program, Acadian serves a population of 3.4 million people in Louisiana and Mississippi. The 1,930 company employee-owners include more than 1,400 Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technicians operating 205 ground ambulances, seven Air Ambulance Helicopters and three fixed-wing airplanes. The company also provides pre-hospital emergency medical care and other services to more than 80 offshore projects around the world. Acadian Ambulance Service has been cited by high tech guru Bill Gates and by the Smithsonian Institution for its leadership in the use of advanced life-saving technology.

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