Early Discovery of Ischemia After Replantation Surgery of the Extremities (EDIR-study) ; An Open, Prospective, Intervention Study

This is an open, prospective, interventional, single-center clinical investigation designed to examine the feasibility and safety of the IscAlert™ device in patients scheduled for extremity replant surgery. Sixty patients will be enrolled to undergo the procedures using a total of 400 devices depending on the injuries.

IscAlert is 0.8 mm in diameter and in vitro testing, shows stable and accurate measurements of pCO2. More than 200 animal experiments have been done with the sensor. The experiments have shown that the sensor detects ischemia (Increased CO2-measurements) in real time in the following organs and tissues: Brain, heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, intestines, musculature and subcutaneous tissue. Sensitivity and specificity are close to 100%. The sensors are inserted into tissue by a split needle technique. The split needle is the size of a 3-gauge peripheral venous catheter. In animal studies, no complications have been detected when using the sensor.

The IscAlert catheters are connected to an electronics unit that is fixed to the skin with an adhesive plaster or glue outside the sterile area. The electrical signals are redirected to a PC approved for clinical use which continuously records tissue pressures of CO2.

IscAlert is inserted into normal muscle and/or subcutaneous tissue distal on the replanted limb to be operated at the end of surgery or immediate postoperatively. The insertion is far away from the operating field. The insertion is done under sterile conditions in accordance with standard sterility criteria at the hospital. No pain during insertion will occur because of insertion is performed during anesthesia (general or regional). Also, the insertion can be compared to an intramuscular injection.

Postoperatively, the IscAlert sensor will continuously monitoring tissue CO2 and temperature. If ischemia occur, for examples caused by a thrombus, an increase in tissue CO2 and a lower temperature will evolve. This will be detected by the sensor which will alarm the investigators. This will lead to assessment of the replanted extremity and if restricted blood flow is diagnosed or suspected, a reoperation will be performed.