OSF Ventures Invests in Gauss Artificial Intelligence Technology to Identify Postpartum Bleeding Early

OSF Ventures, the corporate investment arm of OSF HealthCare, is investing in Gauss Surgical, the developer of technology used to help save the lives of women giving birth. Gauss Surgical has developed Triton, a comprehensive monitoring solution that helps surgeons and other clinicians accurately estimate blood loss in real-time. This allows for early recognition of postpartum hemorrhage and an ability to make more informed clinical decisions.

Clinicians in the operating room use the mobile application to take photos of sponges and suction canisters collecting blood, amniotic fluid and wound irrigation during surgical procedures. Through machine learning and computer vision algorithms developed by Gauss, Triton accurately estimates how much blood is lost during surgery. Clinicians also use Triton to help quantify blood loss for vaginal deliveries and postpartum care, creating a comprehensive blood monitoring solution for obstetrics departments.

Read More: Interview with Ben Goertzel, CEO at SingularityNET

“By using Triton, we are getting the information we need to quickly decide whether to replace a patient’s blood products or other fluids during a surgical procedure,” said Cassi Adkins, Birthing Center Supervisor, OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center. “In many cases, without Triton, the quantification is not done until the operation is complete and, in some cases, when the physician has already left the operating room due to time demands.”

In 2010, the Joint Commission, which accredits hospital systems and programs in the U.S., found that failure to recognize excessive blood loss during child birth is one of the leading causes of maternal death in the U.S. Illinoisrecently mandated hospital systems to report measurements of blood loss for all deliveries.

 Read More: Interview with Angel Gambino, CEO and Founder of Sensai

“We are really excited to adopt this technology,” said Stan Lynall, Vice President of Venture Investments for OSF Ventures. “It will assist us in complying with this relatively recent Illinois regulation and certainly better inform our clinicians at critical times. Our goal is that it will ultimately be deployed across the Ministry for the benefit of our patients.”

Lynall says another reason OSF Ventures invested in Gauss Surgical is the company’s work to develop broader surgical applications.

“At Gauss, we are leveraging artificial intelligence through machine learning and computer vision technology to give clinicians, for the first time, an objective view of blood loss,” said Siddarth Satish, CEO of Gauss Surgical. “We are delighted to be partnering with both OSF Ventures and OSF HealthCare to continue to expand the impact of this technology.”

 Read More: Interview with Jeffrey Kofman, CEO and Founder at Trint