EVIDENCE BASED
Critical Care at Fresenius Medical Care
FIGURE 1 | Critical Care is one of Fresenius Medical Care’s three strategic pillars.

FIGURE 2 | Critical Care portfolio offered by Fresenius Medical Care.

CRITICAL CARE OPPORTUNITIES
Fresenius Medical Care has identified the following opportunities to further improve critical care therapies: the development of innovative devices; automation of processes related to the function and operation of medical devices; optimization of medical device usability; access to intensive therapy expertise (e.g., continuous kidney replacement therapy, ECMO, apheresis support); expansion of ICU point-of-care testing; and enhanced clinical decision support.
To lead these efforts, the Global Medical Office at Fresenius Medical Care has established a critical care therapy team whose medical expertise spans multiple specialties including cardiac surgery, surgical and medical critical care, and anesthesiology. With its comprehensive and diverse views on the various disease pathologies and therapeutic approaches within the ICU, the team will provide medical guidance for the development and execution of the critical care strategy and collaborate with a network of external advisors around the globe.
Initial areas of focus include the development of less invasive ECCO2R for treatment of acute exacerbation of chronic lung disease and pulsatile flow during ECMO therapy (i-COR) to support cardiogenic shock. One of the key challenges for multi-organ extracorporeal support is vascular access. Support systems that can use a single vascular access are an important area of development within the company. The critical care team plans to explore opportunities to improve diagnostic and patient surveillance at the point of care and advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities to improve medical decision making.
In summary, the development of critical care therapies will include the continuous strengthening and expansion of the company’s current extracorporeal organ support technologies and has the potential to improve critical care in communities around the world.

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References
- Halpern NA, Goldman DA, Tan KS, Pastores SM. Trends in critical care beds and use among population groups and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in the United States: 2000-2010. Crit Care Med 2016;44(8):1490-9. doi:10.1097/CCM. 0000000000001722.
- Rudd KE, Johnson SC, Agesa KM, et al. Global, regional, and national sepsis incidence and mortality, 1990-2017: analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study. Lancet 2020;395(10219):200-11. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32989-7.