ClearFlow, Inc.

02/19/2026

Lower the incidence of retained blood complications after heart surgery.
A recent meta-analysis revealed the benefits of active chest tube clearance (ATC).

After heart surgery, the chest tube removes lost mediastinal blood. Clogging of the chest tube may induce inadequate evacuation of fluids surrounding the lungs and heart, leading to deadly consequences. This meta-analysis compared the effectiveness of active chest tube clearance (ATC) with conventional chest tube (CT) in lowering the incidence of retained blood complications after heart surgery. We conducted a systematic search of the available databases to identify cohort studies or clinical trials that met our inclusion criteria. Studies that compared active tube clearance and conventional tube in cardiac surgery were included. The fixed or random-effects model was used to determine the pooled effect estimates upon the heterogeneity of collected data. This review included 7003 people from five cohort studies and three clinical trials. This meta-analysis provides evidence on the positive effect of active maintenance of chest tube patency during the first hours of cardiac surgery, which resulted in reducing the incidence of complications.

More on this systematic review and meta-analysis can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gJUvd5gM

AUTHORS & AFFILIATIONS:
Faculty of Medicine for Boys, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt
Mohammed Tarek Hasan, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Hagrass, Mohamed Nabil Elkhrashy, Mohamed Hamouda, Anas Zakarya Nourelden & Ahmed Bostamy Elsnhory
International Medical Research Association (IMedRA), Cairo, Egypt
Mohammed Tarek Hasan, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Hagrass, Mohamed Nabil Elkhrashy, Mohamed Hamouda, Noura Mohamed shada, Sarah M. Hashem, Mohammed Al-kafarna, Hossam Waleed Almadhoon, Khaled Mohamed Ragab, Anas Zakarya Nourelden & Ahmed Bostamy Elsnhory
Gamal Abdel Nasser Axis, The 3rd Settlement, New Cairo, Egypt
Abdulrahman Ibrahim Hagrass
Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt
Noura Mohamed shada & Sarah M. Hashem
Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Gaza, Palestine
Mohammed Al-kafarna
Faculty of Dentistry, Al-Azhar University, Gaza, Palestine
Hossam Waleed Almadhoon
Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia, Egypt
Khaled Mohamed Ragab

CONTRIBUTIONS:
Conception and design of the work by Khaled Mohamed Ragab and Ahmed Bostamy Elsnhory.
Selection process and data collection by Mohammed Tarek Hasan, Mohamed Nabil Elkhrashy, Mohamed Hamouda, Noura Mohamed shada, and Sarah M. Hashem.
Data analysis and interpretation by Abdulrahman Ibrahim Hagrass and Khaled Mohamed Ragab.
Drafting the article by Mohammed Al-kafarna and Hossam Waleed Madhoon.
Critical revision and editing of the article by Abdulrahman Ibrahim Hagrass, Ahmed Bostamy Elsnhory, and Anas Zakarya Nourelden.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Correspondence to Abdulrahman Ibrahim Hagrass.

After heart surgery, the chest tube removes lost mediastinal blood. Clogging of the chest tube may induce inadequate evacuation of fluids surrounding the lungs and heart, leading to deadly consequences. This meta-analysis compared the effectiveness of active chest tube clearance (ATC) with conventio...

02/17/2026

Surgery cost savings that improve outcomes for all hospital patients.

When you use the ClearFix Rigid Sternal Fixation system at your facility, you improve postoperative recovery, reduce complications, and save on budgets that can be redirected to improve facilities and equipment which contribute to better patient outcomes and quality of care.

For the science behind plate fixation read: Rigid Fixation for the Prevention and Treatment of Sternal Complications created by Rahim Nazerali, MD, MHS, Katharine Hinchcliff, MD, and Michael S. Wong, MD, FACS

For a demo of the ClearFix Rigid Sternal Fixation system,
reach out to Tony Mathiason here on Linkedin.

Check it out at https://lnkd.in/gMgY3_NU

02/13/2026

Live support at your fingertips.
Get access to resources and documents, or speak with someone directly regarding PleuraFlow® Active Clearance Technology® (ACT) System.

The ClearFlow Assistant app has you covered.
Get it here: https://clearflow.com/clinical-support/

02/11/2026

Tradition says passive chest tubes are “good enough”…

Evidence says otherwise.

A recent 1,334-patient study at 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀 showed that when 𝗣𝗹𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄® 𝗔𝗖𝗧 was added to an 𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗦 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗰 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺:

• Retained Blood Syndrome (RBS) decreased by 41%
• POAF decreased by 17%
• ICU time decreased by 30%

Active clearance of chest tubes leads to superior clinical outcomes.

Read the full study here → https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15569845251326084

02/09/2026

Reduce hospital stay.

Provide patients with a rapid return to pre-surgery activities related to sternal closure following cardiothoracic surgery. Take a look at the ClearFix Rigid Sternal Fixation system and get started.

For the science behind plate fixation read: Rigid Fixation for the Prevention and Treatment of Sternal Complications Rahim Nazerali, MD, MHS, Katharine Hinchcliff, MD, and Michael S. Wong, MD, FACS.

For a demo of the ClearFix Rigid Sternal Fixation system,
reach out to Tony Mathiason here on Linkedin.

Check it out at https://lnkd.in/gMgY3_NU

02/05/2026

Positive financial results for hospitals may start in the OR.

There are financial incentives to help patients recover quickly. Start with these recommendations: https://www.clearflow.com/preparing-to-implement-an-eras.../

02/03/2026

Transfusions and complications come to the 1 in 5 patients who have retained blood recovering from surgery.

With Retained Blood, Bleeding Begets More Bleeding after Cardiac Surgery All patients who have surgery have some degree of bleeding in the mediastinum in the immediate postoperative period, called Shed Mediastinal Blood (SMB). Usually this is a microvascular oozing rather than dramatic surgical blee...

01/30/2026

Reduce hospital stay.

Provide patients with a rapid return to pre-surgery activities related to sternal closure following cardiothoracic surgery. Take a look at the ClearFix Rigid Sternal Fixation system and get started.

For the science behind plate fixation read: Rigid Plate Fixation Versus Wire Cerclage: Patient-Reported and Economic Outcomes From a Randomized Trial created by Keith Allen, Vinod Thourani, MD, Yoshifumi Naka, MD, PhD, Kendra J. Grubb, MD, MHA, FACC, MD, John Grehan, MD, PhD, Nirav Patel, MD, T. Sloane Guy, MD, Kevin Landolfo, MD, Marc Gerdisch, MD, FACS, FACC, FHRS, MD, Mark Bonnell, MD, and David J. Cohen, MD, MS.

For a demo of the ClearFix Rigid Sternal Fixation system,
reach out to Tony Mathiason here on Linkedin.

Check it out at https://lnkd.in/gMgY3_NU

01/28/2026

Reactive vs. proactive has obvious drawbacks and pitfalls. What options are there to prevent chest tubes from clotting? https://clearflow.com/open-chest-tube-clearance-clot-safe-better-way/

01/26/2026

86% of chest tubes occlude below the surface of the skin — going unnoticed.

Marc Gillinov, MD, Chairman of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, gives a clinical talk and solutions on alternative ways to avoid chest tube occlusion and prevent the inflammatory consequences of retained blood after cardiac surgery.

You can watch the entire webinar here: https://lnkd.in/dNgPU_Vj
Filmed for the Arab Health Conference in January 2022.

To avoid chest drain occlusion and prevent complications and hospital costs, you can find documentation on the PleuraFlow system that Dr. Gillinov mentions. https://clearflow.com/

01/23/2026

Another step forward in cardiac surgery innovation.

In a 1,334-patient study, Dr. Marc Gerdisch and colleagues at Franciscan Health Indianapolis demonstrated that integrating PleuraFlow® ACT into an ERAS cardiac surgery program significantly reduced complications and ICU burden:

• 𝟰𝟭% 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 in Retained Blood Syndrome (RBS), P = 0.014
• 𝟭𝟳% 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 in Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation (POAF), P = 0.049
• 𝟯𝟬% 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿 ICU stay, P < 0.001

Proactive management of postoperative drainage leads to more favorable clinical and economic outcomes.

Read the full study here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15569845251326084

01/21/2026

How confident are you that your patient’s chest tubes are fully patent after closure?
Occlusions are common and most happen in the unseen portion beneath the skin.

𝗣𝗹𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄® 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆® provides an innovative, sterile way to maintain drainage and reduce retained blood complications.

Proactive recovery, not Reactive intervention.